How Were You Wired to Complain?
Humans have grown up witnessing that gossiping, and complaining is the socially acceptable norms to bond at any gathering – a family occasion, getting to know strangers or a formal setup. Maybe it’s registered in your brain that this is okay.
But habit, good or bad, rewires your brains when you repeat them over and over again, and make them easier and automatic to repeat too. The more you complain, the more it rewires your brain for complaining again. The worse is that it doesn’t solve any problem or lead to answers, just an attempt from us to gain pity, comfort, or some validation.
A study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry found that on average, optimists (ones with a positive outlook on life) have a 55% lower risk of death across all causes than pessimists.
Intriguing, right?
How Complaining Rewires Your Brain for Negativity?
Complaining is negative, you all are aware of that but did you know that it physically rewires your brain for negativity? A rewired brain is then prone to complaining more until you eventually turn into a negative person completely.
See if you can catch yourself complaining, in either speech or thought, about a situation you find yourself in, what other people do or say, your surroundings, your life situation, even the weather. To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So, change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.” – Eckhart Tolle
Research says that most people complain once every minute and an average person complains 15-30 times a day. You might think the number doesn’t apply to you, but you definitely complain more than you think you do. Since you get to offload, vent out, and release the held-up energy, complaining feels so good and that’s what makes it tempting too.
But so does taking drugs, consuming alcohol, smoking, or eating junk, right? That temptation is what makes them addictive and in turn severely harmful.
Hence, It’s extremely disempowering to get stuck in the vicious cycle of ‘complaining’, to set negative to default over positive, to being a victim.