How to be grateful instead of complaining

How To Be Grateful Instead Of Complaining digitalbloggers.com /business/how-to-be-grateful-instead-of-complaining Nov 01, 2016 5 views Written by Sergei VanBellinghen

Author Sergei VanBellinghen

Articles written: 62 Joined: 23 September 2016 Niche: Business Internet and Businesses Online Self Improvement

For many of you, being thankful seems hard because life is often difficult enough and it feels like there are conditions in which your gratitude does not take place that easy. Yet, what makes you more than slaves to these feelings and situations?

We all know that it is always much easier to complain than to be grateful. But how does it work? 16 years ago, when I used to live in Los Angeles, California, I had bought myself my dream car, a Black convertible Chevrolet Camaro LT1. It was a gorgeous car. One day I was parked on the street when a guy came up to me and said: “I

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wonder how many people could have been fed with the money you spent on that car”. You can imagine my surprise.

I had to rebel against any negative desires and act right, even if I didn’t feel like it. Meaning that acting grateful can essentially make you grateful.

Complaining is Bad for Your Health Usually I got a ‘thumbs up’ from other guys, but this one was so dead serious. He was complaining. Was he envious, jealous? Did he have a bad day? Had he decided to torture me with his negativity?

I had three choices, let him get to me, ignore him or be grateful. Maybe you might have responded to this man by releasing your emotions out so that you would feel better in telling him what you thought. After all, we are human.

But I chose the third option.

Why? Well, complaining is not good for your health and for the people around you, but that is not all that is bad with everyday negativity. Seemingly, it is also endanger your brain. Yes, your brain. “Your mind is your spiritual estate, protect it and use it with care” – Sergei VanBellinghen

Thank You Captain Obvious So I mumbled a “Thank you, Captain Obvious” between my teeth, and said to him “I am not sure but I am grateful”.

“Grateful, for what?” responded the man. “Yes” said I, “All I know is that it certainly fed the people who built it. It fed the people made its tires and the electronic. It fed the developers that made its software. It fed the people who mined the aluminum for the chassis, it also fed the people at the dealership, and their families, but yes, I have to admit, I don’t know how many people it fed.”

The man just looked at me, turned around and walked away without another word. There is a huge difference between a complaining and a gratitude mindset. When you are being grateful, you put positive things into your life and other people’s life. You give yourself and them dignity.

In letting go of the complaining mindset, your world will open like never before.

The Brain Rewire its Own Electrical system You should know that expressing gratitude instead of complaining stimulates an important part of your brain by regulating stress and worries. It is the part that produces the sensation of pleasure.

You might not believe me but it is real. Your brain is rewiring its own electrical system, materially changing itself, making it simpler for structures called synapses which permit nerve cells to pass and share an electrical signal and chemical link that sparks together, activating and triggering your thought in an effortless way."

Not only thinking negative thoughts rewire your brain for negativity, but spending time with negative people generates the same effect. Put simply, constant negative thoughts create an easier way to think yet more negative thoughts.

Change Your Focus It is an indisputable logic. By changing or choosing to focus on good things will make you feel better. Did you know that if you smile for 20 seconds in tensing the muscles around the eyes that creates these 3 little wrinkles on the side called ‘Crow feet’; it stimulates brain activity associated with positive emotions.

By creating our own happiness, choosing to be grateful can also bring out the best in those around us. Showing gratitude and giving a warm thank you reduce bad behavior and is the best way to defuse an angry interlocutor.

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By acting grateful, regardless of emotions, you persuade your brain into processing positive feelings. Rebel against what is holding you back from your bliss. As I write this article, I will take my own advice and update my gratitude list, including my family, beliefs, goals, friends and work.

Choose to Be Grateful Let’s be honest for a minute. When was the last time you were grateful for the air you breathe? Seriously, consider all the tiny, useless things you experience each day — the fragrance of flowers in the air, a piece of music that makes you recall a happy memory. Do not be grateful when you only feel like doing it. Express gratitude even when you do not feel like it.

Start with inner gratitude; give thanks internally to the people who see you or for what you already have. Then dive into outer gratitude by expressing thanks in messages to others, like loved ones, colleagues and complete strangers that work in a firm you are using but answered questions you had, thanking them for what they do.

Last but not least, be grateful for common things. It is so easy to be thankful for the positive and essential parts of life. But to be truly happy, find ways to be grateful for the small things in life.

The message here is to fortify your ability for positivity and weaken your impulse for negativity. By quitting the complaining pattern, your physical and mental health will reward you. Remember that negativity weakens your mental and physical system. It affects your learning, memory as well as your immune function.

Believe me; the best remedy is for you to create a gratitude routine, no matter on how you feel. Do not be grateful just once for holidays, but each day and all year long. I promise that you won’t regret it.

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Sergei VanBellinghen, Founder & CEO of First-Class Lifestyle and sergeivanbellinghen.com, Success & Self-Improvement Coach, Freedom entrepreneur & business partner of Stuart Ross, also counselor in East Europe-West relationships, a passionate Globetrotter and an avid audio booker

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