Recently I agreed to take on a rather challenging responsibility. It was daunting, not very pleasant, scary, and very, very stressful. Almost daily, I’d whine (to myself), “I don’t want to do this.” And complaining didn’t change anything - it just made me feel worse.

About this time, I ran across an entry in the book A Year of Living Your Yoga. It basically said, “If you’re going to do something, whether you like it or not, do it wholeheartedly.” I decided to try that. I stopped whining to myself - and while the responsibility didn’t get easier and the chores didn’t get more pleasant, I felt better about doing them.

A couple of weeks later, I came down with a cold. Once again, I found myself whining to myself, “I don’t feel good.” Sometimes I changed it up to,“I feel lousy” or “I feel terrible.” And guess what? Moaning and groaning didn’t make my cold go away. It just made me focus on how bad I felt.

So this week, notice when you’re grumbling and complaining to yourself - or to others. Then ask yourself,“Is this making anything any better? Or is it just making it more unpleasant for everyone involved?” If it isn’t making an improvement - then stop it!

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