REPORTING FROM COMPLAINT FREE MONDAY

I promised to report back honestly. Oh yes I did.

Seems I did worse than most other people except my friend Max who really did deserve to complain today so he should be forgiven completely.

I knew I needed a little complaint detox!!! I am generally a grateful person and I've consciously decided to work on being more grateful. I voice how I feel. I think it's important not to keep things pent up, repressed and waiting to jump out at inopportune times. But I knew I needed to learn to keep some things to myself!

So here's how today went:

I started the day with a serene breakfast, no rushing around to get out the door. I saw one of my oldest clients (not in age but in length of time training together...10 years in fact!). She normally gripes a lot while working out but she too had joined the challenge. Within 15 minutes of starting our session guess who complained? That was at 10:25

ME!

It was about not being booked up with clients today. Instead of focusing on her I griped about what I didn't have. Bad move Jane.

Then within the same session at 11:10 I said something about how parents can be boastful and how that was annoying. Now you might be thinking was she actually working out during her session or just listening to me blah blah blah. You can ask her tomorrow how sore she is. Yes we always work hard.

Next complaint came while I was driving to get my daughter from school at 3:18. I was trying to get too much done making changes to the Urbanfitt website and left just a few minutes late. Someone driving a Lexus in front of me was letting everyone and their grandma pass in front of him/her. I said, "Could you just give me break already!"

My last complaint of the day was tonight over dinner with my friend Ilana around 7:15. I can't remember what it was but it was something trivial.

So I owe $20 to the Food Bank. I must confess. I actually thought I was going to owe closer to $100 so despite not fairing as well against others in this challenge, I did do better than I thought I would.

I like the way it made me feel. Catching myself before letting something out of my mouth that goes against my philosophy about life was empowering. Made me feel like I was being more conscious about my reactions to things around me.

I still firmly believe in communicating both positive and negative emotions. Stuffing them down is like holding back a sneeze. We might implode. However, choosing to let go of trivial and petty complaints sure does clear up psychic room for more good stuff.