Hitting the Road

"Our thoughts create our lives and our words indicate what we are thinking." -Will Bowen

I've heard many statements similar to this one, stating that I am what I think about, and that a man is shaped by the words he speaks. I came across an incredible scripture in John a few months ago that says that words are like food for our spirit- you can either feed your spirit junk or good, healthy words. I've always tried to keep my language clean. I don't cuss. I steer clear of dirty subjects (most of the time). I avoid entertainment that has a lot of profanity. I've always considered myself to be pretty good about speaking healthy words.

I tend to get a little lazy and grumpy during the winter. Something about all the cold and darkness just seems to suck the energy right out of me until I feel like a blob of gray that can only roll around in search of food and warmth. Never mind going to the gym- it's hard enough getting out of bed for work! As for fruits and vegetables? My stomach laughs at the thought of such things as I consistently reach for the empty carbs: steaming pasta, warm breads smothered in butter, milky chocolate, toasted pastries with fruity fillings, chunky broccoli cheddar soup and succulent pork loin in a sugared apple sauce. As my waistline expands, my self-image shrinks until I'm embarrassed to be alive. "Poor me!" I cry between handfuls of leftover Christmas candy, "I feel like poop-on-a-stick and I don't have the self-control to do anything about it!"

I caught myself in the middle of a complaint-fest at work the other day. It surprised me, when I stopped and replayed the last five minutes of the conversation I was having with my friend, to realize that it had been nothing but negative comments about myself, my surroundings, and my life. I pointed this fact out to my friend apologetically and quickly moved on to talk about something positive. I excused this situation as being out-of-the ordinary for me because I'd just been having a bad day. When I caught myself in the same situation again the next day and the next week, I laughingly said to my friend, "Wow, I'm sorry, I complain a lot, don't I."

I fully expected her to deny it. She wouldn't do me the dishonor. She shrugged like a good friend, searched for the right words for a moment, and then said, "It's ok. You've been having a hard time."

Ouch.

Not ouch because what she'd said was rude or unfriendly. Ouch because the truth hurts: I am a complainer.

"It's the winter," I comforted myself. "I'm only complaining so much because I turn into this little beast in the winter. I'm not really like this all the time."

Am I?

Now I come to think about it, I find plenty to complain about in the Summer, too. I complain about the heat, about how I look in shorts, about how I look in a bathing suit, about how I eat too much ice cream, and blah, blah, blah.

It's silly, isn't it? Yes, it is. It's very silly.

So if it's true that I am shaped by my thoughts, and that I become what I think it seems reasonable to say that if I can get myself to naturally think what I want to be, I will become that. If I want to be a positive, upbeat, healthy person, I need to think like one!

Therefore, my goal for 2011 is to be a positive, complaint-free woman by the end of the year! Call this my happy blog, my appreciate-life blog, positive weight-loss plan blog, my goal-setting blog, my encourage-others blog, my just-because blog! ...But where do I start?

In his book, A complaint Free World, Will Bowen states: "Our thoughts create our lives and our words indicate what we are thinking." His philosophy is that if we get into the habit of speaking positively, it trains our minds to start thinking that way as well. So my first plan of action is to tackle Bowen's 21-day challenge to become complaint-free in word.

The challenge is this: I wear a purple Complaint Free World bracelet throughout the day and try to go 21 days straight without complaining, gossiping, or criticizing. If I catch myself doing any one of those three things, I switch the purple bracelet to my other wrist and begin all over again.

I started the challenge on Monday. Now it's Thursday and I actually did make a full 24 hours complaint-free!... Until I slipped and had to start all over again. Gargh. But that's ok! Because if I can do it once, I can do it again! Brace yourselves, folks, I'm hittin' the road to positive-thinking!