A Complaint Free World Summary

- Book by Will Bowen

A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted

“Less pain, better health, satisfying relationships, a better job, being more serene and joyous ... sound good? It’s not only possible, it’s probable.

Consciously striving to reformat your mental hard drive is not easy, but you can start now and in a short period of time—time that will pass anyway—you can have the life you’ve always dreamed of having.” ~ Will Bowen 

1. Using the Purple Bracelet (The 21-day challenge of being complaint free).

2. By changing your words, you have reshaped the way you think.

3. “Doctors estimate that 67 percent of illnesses are a result of “thinking sick.”!

4. “There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were and ask why not?”

5. The first step toward progress is dissatisfaction. But if we stay in dissatisfaction, we never move forward to brighter vistas...

The author, Will Bowen, recommends a concept of the 21-day challenge of being complaint free.

So, how can we achieve this?!

• Here’s how to slowly disentangle and release yourself from the trap:

1. Begin to wear a purple bracelet on either wrist.

2. When you catch yourself complaining, gossiping, or criticizing, move the bracelet to the other wrist and begin again.

3. If you hear someone who is wearing a purple bracelet complain, it’s okay to point out their need to switch the bracelet to the other arm. BUT if you’re going to do this, you must move your bracelet first. You’re complaining about their complaining!

4. Stay with it. It takes on average 4 to 8 months to reach 21 consecutive days.

• Note that you don’t have to wait for your purple bracelet to arrive. Slip a rubber band on your wrist, put a coin or small stone in your pocket, move a paper weight to one side of your desk or find your own distinctive way of self-monitoring today.

The idea is to go 21 consecutive days without complaining, criticizing, or gossiping. The four steps to form this new positive practice are:

This is the stage when people complain without even knowing that they’re complaining. It is just a natural part of their being or how they speak.

If someone asked people in this group how much they complain, most would say “very little,” or “not at all”. They are completely unaware (unconscious) of their complaining (incompetence).

You’re uncomfortably aware (conscious) of your complaining (incompetent). This stage is where one begins to realize how often they complain. It frequently times becomes uncomfortable, as one may feel slightly embarrassed at the amount of complaining they are actually doing.

The author mentions that this is the stage where most people get discouraged after discovering their level of complaining and actually quit their 21-day challenge.

In this stage, the individual starts to become aware of everything they say. Thoughts and conversation become increasingly positive as they stop and think before speaking.

It has now become unconscious (you don’t notice) for you to be competent (not complain). So, there is no longer need to think (unconscious) about each phrase that you speak positively (competence) as you already mastered the concept of changing your thoughts and words.

“After you have gone the months it takes to become a Complaint Free person, you will find that you will have changed. Just as, over generations, the blind cave fish left behind what was no longer needed, you will find that your mind no longer produces the deluge of unhappy thoughts you used to live with.

Because you are not speaking them, you have no outlet for them, and the complaint factory in your mind closes down. You have shut off the spigot and the well has dried up.

By changing your words, you have reshaped the way you think. It has now become Unconscious (you don’t notice) for you to be Competent (not complain). And as a result, you are a different person. You are a happier person.”

“We are, every one of us, already creating our lives all the time. The trick is to really take the reigns and steer the horse to where we want to go, rather than where we do not.

Your life is a movie written by, directed by, produced by, and starring—you guessed it—YOU!

We are all self-made. When asked about “self-made millionaires,” Earl Nightingale, the twentieth- century motivational master and philosopher, once quipped, “We are all self-made, but only the successful will admit it.””

That’s totally right.

It’s time to stop complaining about our family, our financial state, our boss or whatever challenges we think are getting in the way of creating the lives we want.

What really stops us from getting what we want is ourselves! No one and nothing can affect you unless you let it! It’s your choice..

Marcus Aurelius says in Meditations: “The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.”

Will Bowen also says: “It is vital that we control our minds in order to re-create our lives.”

“Think about that. Two-thirds of illnesses originate in the mind. Indeed, the word psychosomatic comes from psyche, meaning “mind,” and soma, meaning “body.” Therefore, psychosomatic literally means “mind/body.”

There is a connection between the mind and body. What the mind believes, the body manifests.

Dozens of research studies have shown that what a person believes about their health leads to that belief becoming real for them.

I heard a story on National Public Radio where doctors found that if they told patients the drug held great promise in curing them, the drug had a far greater beneficial effect than it did for patients who received the same drug without the suggestion.

The story went on to report one study that found Alzheimer’s patients who had other physical illnesses, such as high blood pressure, did not get the full benefit of the drugs they took because, due to their diminished memory, they could not remember taking their daily medications. The mind has a powerful effect on the body.”

Bowen also says: “Doctors estimate that 67 percent of illnesses are a result of “thinking sick.” Our thoughts create our world and our words indicate our thoughts. Complaining about an illness will neither shorten its duration nor lessen its severity.”

Your thoughts affect your body! Think about that…

“What determines how far a stone from a slingshot will fly?

The answer is: how far back you’ve pulled the band of the slingshot.

If you study the lives of successful people, you will find that often their success was not in spite of their life challenges but because of them.

They took what happened to them and used it to help them grow. They stopped telling everyone how much they were wronged and began to look for the blessings in their challenges. And looking, they found them. Their slingshot was pulled back far, but as a result, they soared even further.”

Awesome concept..

Instead of complaining, you can take advantage of your challenges!

If you’re currently facing a challenge, what’s your choice?

““But every great thing in our country began with people complaining... think about Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King!” an email I received started.

I realized that in one respect I agreed with the woman who sent the email. The first step toward progress is dissatisfaction. But if we stay in dissatisfaction, we never move forward to brighter vistas...

Were the great leaders of the United States also great complainers? I’d have to say no. These important men and women allowed dissatisfaction to drive them to great visions, and their passion for these visions inspired others to follow them. Their relentless focus on a bright future raced the collective heartbeat of this nation.

Their method of transforming our consciousness as a country and, as a result, our future, was best summarized by Robert Kennedy: “There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were and ask why not?””

Well, it’s not about pretending there aren’t any challenges in our lives! There are of course.

The question is, what do we do about it?!

It’s your choice to be a victim or a creator.. So, choose wisely.

“When asked how they are, I have heard people groan sarcastically, “Another day in paradise.” I decided to adopt this as my own genuine answer to this question.

Not being sarcastic, but sincerely responding, “It’s another day in paradise,” when asked about my well-being. It was uncomfortable at first, but it has now become second nature. I’ve noticed that this comment makes others smile brightly, and it reminds me that I have a choice in that moment to be happy or sad; to be in heaven or hell.

You have a choice with the words you use to create the life you live. Choose wisely.”

Just feel it… “It’s another day in paradise!”

“In a vineyard, one grape will begin to ripen and in so doing will send out a vibration, an enzyme, a fragrance, or an energy field of some kind that is picked up by the other grapes.

This one grape signals the other grapes that it is time to change, to ripen.

As you become a person who holds only the highest and best for yourself and others in your words and thoughts, you will signal to all around you simply by who you are that it is time for a change. Without even trying, you will raise the consciousness of those around you.”

It's time to inspire others, will you? 😊

That was my A Complaint Free World summary, a very quick look at this great book. If you haven’t read it yet and you’re interested in it, get a copy. There is a HUGE amount of wisdom and value in this book, and we’ve only touched on a tiny bit of it.

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