Bravo to the person who first considered substituting the word “suggestion” for “complaint.”  We may be well aware that a slotted receptacle situated in an obscure location of an establishment is still just a “complaint box,” but a subtle word change can at least offer us an alternative attitude.

When our desire to change things manifests itself in the form of complaining, the experience is rarely delightful.  Most of us realize the unproductive nature of active participation in the complaint department, but we often do it anyway.  Expressing our irritation when we experience any form of displeasure is practically automatic.

Four days of traveling in a car with the person that I have been married to for over 25 years has effectively illuminated the energetic properties of human annoyance.  There is a fine line between expressing displeasure to instigate change, and bitching about things that do not necessarily have to change in order for me to be happy.

Vibrationally speaking, complaining is like the gateway drug to criticizing.  Criticizing can open the door to the hard-core practice of judgment.  Once routine opinion-use becomes standard, the vibrational frequency regarding how we respond to the behavior of others (as well as our circumstances) is pretty much downhill from there.

Although I am becoming proficient with not opening my mouth to verbalize my displeasure, I’m still working to avoid formulating the thought of mild or severe irritation in my mind.  That part may take some time:)

Embarking upon a course to raise the vibrational frequency of this one aspect of my environmental interaction increases my birthright to enjoy life on the planet.  The energy of complaining, even in its mildest form, just feels incompatible with Who I Am and where I want to be.  The simple act of refraining from opening my mouth to verbalize things that do not please me has been surprisingly gratifying.

Of course, while making an effort to avert my attention away from complaining, it defeats the whole purpose when I take note of the 6 billion people around me who seem to bitch about everything under the sun.  I have to remind myself to stay focused on my own agenda, and trust that, in due time, the Universe will respond to my energy by minimizing the opportunity of things (and other people) to bitch about.

I will leave you for now, my dear friend, with a quote from Sir William Temple:

“Our present time is indeed a criticizing and critical time, hovering between the wish, and the inability to believe.  Our complaints are like arrows shot up into the air at no target; and with no purpose they only fall back upon our own heads and destroy ourselves.”

Tags: complaining, complaint box, criticizing, energetic properties, expressing irritation, human annoyance, judge others, vibrational frequency