Dont complain: Just Leave, Change or Accept

Today morning I was feeling grumpy, irritated, and angry even about a situation in my personal life. My mind chatter was going along the lines of : 'Oh how long can I put up with this, so and so did this again, oh I cant take it any more, etc.. (I was mentally complaining about a certain other person and conjuring the stories of complaint that I could tell others about this person.

Then as I often do when feeling out of sorts I picked up a book, and today it was once again, Eckhart Tolle's 'Power of Now'. I closed my eyes and asked for intuitive guidance from my source to the problem at hand and I came upon a page where Tolle's advice was that if one is really unhappy with some situation we have only 3 choices: leave the situation, change it, or accept it. But whichever option we choose we need to do it whole heartedly and to whatever extent possible with a positive attitude and without negativity. Complaining achieves non of these...and is a really useless negative state to be in. There was a line which went something like, 'by no means let your inner state remain negative and polluted'. So if the decision is made to leave the situation, then do that with a positive focus on where you want to go, what you want rather than remaining stuck in thinking about what you want to leave behind. If the decision is made to change, then again do that with a positive focus on what new state you want to change it to. If the decision is made to accept the situation, then just accept it totally so that we don't give any resistance to the what is: this we need to do with complete surrender, and then the situation can no longer irritate us.

I was wondering which of the 3 options I should adopt with regard to the current problem and as I thought through each one I realized that I was not ready to leave this particular situation (at least at this point in time). I did not have the ability or know-how to change the situation because it was really about another person's habits. My only option at this point was really to surrender...... and I made this decision and kept reading the book. I came to another line which where Tolle poses the question, "what if anything, is wrong with the present moment"?

This was my moment of shift this morning. As I reflected on this question,and searched my mind for what was wrong, each thought that came up was either a regret about the past or a fear about the future. I really really could not find ANYTHING wrong with the present moment. It was perfect.....! My face burst into a smile and as I soaked in the perfection of the moment, I let my awareness gradually move outward from just me and my experience of this moment to my home, my son, this other person, my work, my schedule for the day etc. and each thing that entered my thought field was now clothed with joy and perfection,.... and a surge of gratitude swept through me. The same conference I had been so stressed about last night now appeared as a wonderful opportunity to have fun, the sense of a parenting burden was now a joyful appreciation of being blessed with a wonderful child, and so forth,... and finally when I thought of this person, whom I had earlier been really irritated with, I could only recollect certain nice qualities about him. Amused and happy, I went out of the bathroom (where I had been reading) to greet my wonderful world and the joyful day that was blessed with opportunities. Needless to say, I had a great day,....and this other person has been an amazing person in my life today as well! What is this magic that descended on my day today? I only have gratitude and appreciation, for the universe, my loving source, the wonderful book by Tolle, all the books and teachers who have motivated me to turn to my source and my intuition, and finally for me...because I chose to look within in that moment of distress and complaining. :-)

Love and Hugs!