Complaint Free? Probably not. Grateful? Definitely.

I don't know if you all have heard of this concept of a complaint free world. There is a guy named Will Bowen, who was a pastor at a church in Kansas City and came up with this idea that we all complain too much and he wanted to see how his life would change if he stopped complaining entirely, for 21 days straight. It took him like 3-4 months to do it. He challenged the members of his church to do it too and it caught on. They now sell these bracelets that you use to help you remember when you are complaining. You switch it from one wrist to another every time you complain. Here's a link to the website if you're interested. (In case you're wondering I'm not planning on getting a bracelet. I'm going for a more moderate approach)http://www.acomplaintfreeworld.org/ I heard about it a while back but was just thinking about it today when I read Erica's blog and also Lisa's blog the other day about taking the time to appreciate all we have. I was thinking that maybe not complaining at all would be a little hard to do, but maybe we could try and think of something we appreciate every time we complain. It really does make a lot of what we complain about seem like nonsense when you put it in perspective. Like, for example, I know most of us would like to be able to keep our houses neater or at least more organized. But maybe instead of looking around at the mess and feeling like failures we should look at the beautiful houses we live in and be grateful. And realize that all that stuff that's making the mess are things that most people in the world only wish they could posses. And when we complain about our husbands not understanding or helping enough sometimes, we should think to ourselves that at least we live in a country where women have any rights at all and are respected as equals unlike most of the women around the world.

I know it won't make everything better, but it's really easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day hodge-podge of crap that we deal with. Sometimes taking a step back and looking at things for what they truly are can help. So I think we should all try it. Tomorrow if you find yourself complaining about something, just sit and think of something your thankful for and see if it makes you feel better. At least a little better anyway.

Example: Don't look at the mess of disorganized toys (which is actually pretty neat considering how messy this room can get). Instead, think how lucky my kids are to have so many nice things to play with. (Let me know if that helps you, cause it's not working for me just yet) Just remember, these things take time.

I just had to add a picture of something I'm thankful for. I bought these flowers today at Hobby Lobby 90% off . I got 2 $16.99 bouquets for $1.69 each. I bought the pot at full price for $7.99 and the foam inside was $1.99. My grand total for this lovely arrangement, including tax, was $14.50! For that, I am thankful. And each time I look at the beautiful arrangement on my table, I'll feel a warm glow inside. Maybe I'll try looking at them every time Ellie poops her pants or Logan smacks Ellie! It's worth a shot, right?