Transforming Your Life: The Journey from Complaints to Power PT2 #148

Ever found yourself caught in the traffic, complaining about how it's ruining your day? What if I told you that you can transform your life by simply changing the way you react to such situations? 

In this episode, I continue to break down my experience in "No Complaining Week." I just completed this week in "Mental Muscle," a spiritual boot camp experience I've done multiple times.  "No Complaining Week" happens in the second week of "Mental Muscle."

Drawing from this experience, I delve into the negative power of complaining, and how it strips us of our power to take control of our lives.

This episode is an exploration of the causes and consequences of complaining, with a focus on making positive changes to our habits.

I share my personal experiences and the questions I ask myself when I notice a complaint brewing, inspired by the teachings of Dr. James Mellon and the wisdom of Wayne Dyer and Eckhart Tolle. 

We'll also examine the underlying beliefs that often provoke our complaints.

As always, thanks for listening!

You can find Dr. James Mellon's book, "Mental Muscle", here on Amazon:
https://a.co/d/2Eo6s4y

You can find me here:

Dr. Thor on Instagram @drthor.tv
Dr. Thor on TikTok @drthor.tv

Website: https://drthor.tv/

Episode Transcript

Thor Challgren (00:00):
Success author Wayne Dyer said acceptance means
no complaining and happinessmeans no complaining about the
things over which you can donothing.
Today I'm in the second episodeof my series on no complaining.
Welcome to Every Day, a NewThought.
I'm Thor Challgren, and everyday I bring you a new thought, a

(00:22):
new perspective.
This week I'm talking about nocomplaining because I've just
finished no complaining week inmental muscle 16 weeks of
spiritual boot camp.
This is a program I've donemany times and I'm probably now
at least, in my fifth go-aroundof this program.
It's 16 weeks where everysingle week you have a specific

(00:45):
direction and each one of thembuilds on the other one.
And in week two, which I'vejust completed, the whole week
is about no complaining.
I'll put a link to mentalmuscle which is available at
Amazon.
I'll put that in the showdescription below.
Yesterday I introduced theseries and asked you to think
about in your life over the last24 hours, pay attention to when

(01:10):
you complain and why youcomplain and what might be
behind it.
I'll just cite a couple ofwords from Dr James Mellon where
he talks about the directivesfor the entire week, but I'm
gonna pose these to you to thinkabout over the last 24 hours to
look at when do you complain,why do you complain and what are

(01:31):
you avoiding in the moment.
Because that's really the pointof this is to become aware of
why we're complaining and topull it back to look at the
reasons why we might becomplaining.
One of the things I think isinteresting is this book and
this whole program is puttogether in a sequential way.
It's not an accident that nocomplaining is literally in the

(01:55):
very beginning of the program,because it's kind of
foundational in a spiritualdevelopment perspective to get
you to see how much power youhave when you take control of
your mind.
And often when we'recomplaining, we're not using our
mind, we're not using ourthoughts creatively, effectively
and with power, and so whenyou're actively looking at am I

(02:19):
complaining about things, you'rebeginning to take back power.
So how did it go for you in thelast 24 hours?
Did you notice that there aretimes when you are more likely
to complain about things thanothers?
I'll give you my own definitionthat I've sort of evolved over
time about what I would considerto be a complaint, and it has

(02:42):
changed over time.
I think the first time I didmental muscle years ago, I
probably was a bigger complainerthan I am now.
Now I'm sort of having to finetune it more.
But here's my own personaldefinition of how I've applied,
and I'll give you an example.
In the beginning what I wouldthink about was I'd catch myself

(03:05):
and go, oh, that probably was acomplaint, and then I would
immediately ask myself can I dosomething to change it?
You know, I opened with thatquote from Wayne Dyer where he
said acceptance means nocomplaining and happiness means
no complaining about the thingsover which you can do nothing.
I get what he's saying and forme my own definition has become

(03:31):
that there's a lot that I maybeused to think that I couldn't do
anything about now, and now Iam much more likely to go.
Is that true?
Is it really true that I can'tdo anything about it?
I Would look at something likemaybe I get on the highway in
the morning to drive somewhereand there's traffic and and
maybe I used to complain aboutthat night immediately ask

(03:54):
myself Could I have donesomething about that?
And maybe most of us would say,no, you can't.
You just, if you're gonna driveat rush hour, you're going to
encounter traffic.
But is it really true that Icouldn't do anything, because
maybe I could have gotten upearlier and driven before there
was traffic and just plan my dayso that maybe when I get to the

(04:15):
place I'm going, I bring withme work or whatever I need to do
.
So In that instance I couldhave made a choice not to drive
at that time and, and so if Idecide to drive at that time,
guess what?
I kind of can't complain aboutthat.
So I find now for myself thatthe first question that I ask is

(04:38):
can I do something about it?
So that's what I'm gonnaencourage you to think about Is,
as you reflect this week in nocomplaining week is, if you find
yourself complaining, the veryfirst thing you should ask
yourself is is there anything Ican do about it?
And if there is, make a decisionthat you will make that change

(05:00):
and if not, maybe ask yourselfwhy am I complaining?
That's the part of the point ofthe work this weekend in mental
muscle, and the book goes intoa lot more detail about no
complaining week.
So I highly recommend that youlook at the book, go on Amazon,
check it out, but Back it up.
Ask when I complain, whatbeliefs do I have about myself

(05:25):
that maybe are being uncoveredby this belief, by this
complaint?
Is it that maybe I think Idon't have power?
Is it maybe that there'ssomething unresolved in this
situation, in this relationship?
And rather than actually takingon the challenge, taking on the
resolution, I'm backing up andjust sort of bitching about it,

(05:46):
fetching about it and saying, oh, you know, that's the way it
always is.
So tomorrow I'm gonna dive intoa few of the questions that
often will come up when peoplego what is this a complaint or
is this a complaint?
Talk more about that tomorrowand also maybe fine tune your
own definition of it.
I'm gonna close with a quotefrom Eckhart tolay, who wrote

(06:07):
the power of now, and he saidsee if you can catch yourself
complaining in either speech orthought about a situation you
find yourself in, what otherpeople do or say, your
surroundings, your lifesituation, even the weather.
To complain is always nonacceptance of what is.

(06:28):
It invariably carries anunconscious negative charge.
When you complain, you makeyourself into a victim.
When you speak out, you are inyour power.
So change the situation bytaking action or by speaking out
if necessary or possible.

(06:49):
Leave the situation or acceptit.
All else is madness.
That's the show for today.
I hope you enjoyed this.
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tomorrow.
Thanks for listening.