My no complaining rule involves increasing my awareness of negativity, and promoting gratitude that shifts my focus towards solutions rather than problems.
I do this through gratitude journaling, and thanking God for the good things that I have. Because there’s a cost for negativity I established a complaint-solution process.
My action plan:
I monitor my thoughts and my words, by staying aware of my internal dialogue and outward expressions of negativity. This makes it easy to notice when I complain, and then I can identify the patterns in my complaining habits.
When I catch myself complaining, I shift my focus, by rejecting my focus to positive aspects of the situation and then find a solution to the problem.
When I do catch myself complaining, I add “but” and then follow it with a positive thought or action. Instead of dwelling on problems, I try focusing on identifying solutions and taking actionable steps.
It’s not about suppressing all complaints, but about transforming mindless complaining, into constructive action.
From Pity to Praise 