Photography by William Walther WjW Photography “To complain is always non-acceptance of what is” Eckhart Tolle
The other day, the blog was about the concept of “It is what it is” and complaining goes along with that concept. As Eckhart Tolle elegantly states above, when you are complaining you are not accepting life as it is. This is one of the areas that I am working on, accepting things as they are and not complaining. I am trying to catch myself before I start to complain. However, since this is a life-long habit that I am trying to break, it takes time. I don’t beat myself up if I have complained, I notice that I complained and work on accepting the situation as it is and ask myself what can I learn from this situation. Awareness is always the key. I am aware that I am complaining and I adjust my attitude and ways. Recently, I was at the post office and the line was out the door. I was there to pick up a package and I learned that there was a much shorter line for just picking up packages, so I moved to that line. Our line only had one attendant and she was having difficulties. I realized I should have stayed in the original long line and I would have been finished in thirty minutes instead of the forty it took me. As the time ticked away, I started to get frustrated as I had other things to do and in my mind I was complaining (complaining with your thoughts is non-acceptance of what is too). The woman in front of me started to complain out loud as she had made it to the front of the line with her form from the mailman only to learn that she had to have a drivers license, so she was back in our line after going to her car to get her license. And then everyone started to join in the complaining. That was when I became aware that I was complaining and not accepting of what was happening and going with the flow. It changed my attitude and I took a few deep breaths and relaxed my shoulders that were tensing up and became amused. I smiled at the attendant as you could tell she was frustrated too because the hold up was that she was trying to help the man whose passport was not delivered to his house, yet the tracking sad it had been delivered somewhere else and I don’t think she knew what to do. At that point, I asked myself, what am I supposed to learn and I came up with patience and acceptance of what is. This was another opportunity for me to practice acceptance and not complaining. I have learned that I keep getting lots of opportunities to practice a skill until I master it. I know that complaining is negative energy. In the big scheme of things, this was nothing to get upset about or bring negative energy into my body. The attendant was doing the best job she could, I really don’t think she came to work today and said “I am going to make everyone’s lives miserable by going really slow.” So, I felt compassion for her. Maybe that delay caused me from getting in a car accident, I never know. This will not be the last long line I am in. I hope next time I practice acceptance from the beginning. Select a day and see how often you complain in speech or thought.
1 Comment
Mary Ann Brewer
2/9/2016 07:22:57 am
This blog reminded me of a phrase my mother would say to me when I was complaining: "This, too, shall pass." This was somewhat helpful at the time, but for me, the new and improved version is what Peggy talks about in this blog entry. "This, too, shall pass" gave me the hope for the future but did little to improve my 'present moment.' "It is what it is" is much more useful to me in that the situation is neither good nor bad, but my response to it can be helpful or hurtful. Now I have some tools to cope with those "long line at the post office moments." I can remember to give at this moment, a smile, an internal prayer for someone in my thoughts, listing things I a grateful for, being amused... I am getting better at asking myself: What am I supposed to learn from this? I ALWAYS have something to learn.
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Peggy Steffens is an artist and Chopra Certified Meditation Instructor My goal is to build a community with like-minded individuals who want to grow, share and learn from one another. Please post comments to enrich the experience for all.
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