BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Buddhism Do Not Complain for 1 Month

Lori -

That's fine to take it a day at a time . That is what life is about!

For the pup, that's a good thing to know! Maybe put on a radio or something? So it's not silent?

I agree that others can do things that cause glitches. We can't control them . So we look for ways to be content despite their actions!

A lovely weekend with my son visiting has me on No Complain Reboot 15, Day 4. Still aiming to make it past 5 days. We'll see!

Taking life one day at a time really does help! I'm now on No Complain Project Reboot 15, Day 9. I was expecting that my stressful day in New York City would have me complain, but Bob and Dad did such an awesome job of nurturing me that I made it through without a complaint! Yoga and meditation absolutely help.

This No Complain project is helping me immensely. I have become much more aware of when I start to feel a little unhappy / cranky and to figure out why. Often I'm either dehydrated or my blood sugar levels are low. When I address that, I feel better again.

Looking back over my times I complained, it was usually because I was "out of sorts" to begin with and then snapped when something happened in life. When I'm feeling all right, I handle those hurdles with much more grace.

Today I'm at No Complain Project Reboot 15, Day 14. So I'm nearly half-way through the 30 day goal!

Amazing, Lisa! I know you will do this!

Every time I even think about doing this, I recall something that will cause me to start over before I even begin. Today, a gust of wind blew a homemade card I crafted for my niece's baby shower off the table. It was the ONLY card I made that was filled with confetti (little baby feet) and they scattered all around the room. I'll need to make more now. Not a big deal but still made me sigh.

Then, two of my chis peed in the ONLY room in the house with carpet this morning. Again, not a big deal but still made me sigh. I cleaned it and plan to replace that carpet anyway--even though it is new still--because a laminate is easier to clean.

I spend most of my day feeling pretty happy and grateful. I wake up that way and go to bed that way. Throughout the day, there are many times when I express sheer thankfulness for it all.

And yet...there are times when stuff happens and I can't help but sigh. I tell myself that it's just life and is not a big deal. There are people out there who have really big deals to cope with so I'd like to deal with these tiny issues with gratitude instead of a sigh.

Lori -

It's OK to sigh. We are taking things one at a time . So if you sigh, let it go. We are only focusing on actual verbal complaints for now. We can work on thoughts later on .

It will take a while to get to the point where you genuinely laugh at the silliness of life .

Well, I wasn't laughing or just thinking about my complaints one day last week.

Neither of the kids took the initiative to put away the hot dogs they didn't finish at lunch.

I was just getting out of the shower and heard the dogs and guess correctly that one of them was on the table. Taboo here. So I rushed out--naked--to chase him off. All the dogs scattered. As I chased one, I slipped on some pee on the floor because no one let the dogs out. ugh. I was fresh and clean, nicely powdered, and now covered in urine.

When I slipped, I jammed my diabetic foot into a wall, bruising my toes and my hip. My daughter rushed down when she heard the bang. "MOM! Are you ok?!?!" My husband finally comes in and does he ask if I'm ok? No, all he can say is, "Why are you on the floor naked?"

Ya, some days it's like that over here...

Lori -

I thought I replied to this, I apologize that I didn't!

That definitely sounds like a frustrating situation. Life can be chaos .

Sometimes life gives you a shake and says "nothing will go as you planned it to - just accept it" .

I'm glad you were ok!

I admit a pet peeve of mine is if I might be hurt and Bob doesn't react in a way I think is appropriate. He is getting better about it, because I'm training him. I think guys are raised to shrug off injuries and say "it's no big deal". So it's up to us to retrain them.

An update for me. I am now on Reboot 16, Day 5.

Backstory: About ten years ago one of our cats, Oscar, briefly caught on fire by walking on the bed headboard when we were in bed and had a lit candle there. We of course put him out promptly, but we no longer use real candles in the bedroom and are quite sensitive about candles near the cat.

So on Sunday I was tired, hungry, and working on my photography class assignment. I was trying to take a photo of a lit candle in darkness. I decided that the ideal place for my test would be to put the candle on the futon to get the fabric wrapping beneath it and then up behind it smoothly.

I put the unlit candle on the futon. Julie the cat immediately leapt up next to it, thinking I was going to do something on the futon. That is "her spot" to snuggle with us.

I got annoyed / upset at her being near the unlit candle because there was no way I would light it with her on the futon. So I removed the candle. She hopped down. I put the candle back onto the futon. She hopped back up. I vocally grumped .

So clearly this was silly of me. The futon is HER place. This is where she likes to sit! She was being natural and normal for wanting to be on the futon. I should have chosen another place for my photo shoot of a live candle. Which I did end up doing. And it was fine. Why should I be grumpy with Julie for doing what a Julie is known to do? How could she understand that this one time she wasn't supposed to come onto the futon with me?

Really it stemmed from me being tired, hungry, and in a rush. I knew better than to let myself get into that state. The more I am aware of those warning signs, the better I can be about solving them proactively.

Still, I made it quite far before that point, and I am fine to start fresh and put my learning to good use! Sleep well. Eat healthy meals in small, regular doses . Don't rush.

Oh, Lisa. No worries about not replying! The good thing about the forums is that they are here when time allows.

Your thought "Don't rush" is key for me. I notice that rushing makes me tense. In the past, I used to pride myself on thriving on adrenaline rushes and deadlines (journalism majors usually do!) But now that I'm older, the stress is draining.

For example, today I need to make cheese enchiladas for my nephew's grad party and he invited over 100 people. I'm not rattled as this is a simple recipe. Mostly assembling. I was going to wait until noon to start but will begin now just to give myself some time to shower and dress in peace instead of being frantic. The party is at 2. I "could" have made them last night but preferred to make them fresh.