When We Complain, We Hurt Our Brain

Complaining is the opposite to enlightenment.

Complaining: the expression of dissatisfaction or annoyance about something or other.

How toxic is complaining?
A half hour of complaining every day physically damages a person’s brain, according to research from Stanford University. Whether you’re the one griping or you’re the one listening, exposure to negativity peels back neurons in the hippocampus – the part of the brain used for problem solving and cognitive function.

Repeated complaining rewires your brain to make future complaining more likely. Over time, you find it’s easier to be negative than to be positive, regardless of what’s happening around you. Complaining becomes your default behaviour, which changes how people perceive you.

Now imagine a generation encouraged to complain en masse =
a society of hurty brains!

If all we see are obstacles rather than opportunities, then there is no path to liberation. In complaining about simple situations, we exaggerate them, and limit our natural ability to approach problems in a creative way that does not disturb the mind.

What to do about this behaviour?
Anything that gives us annoyance is an opportunity to cut through our usual pattern of behaviour.

Know that your life is your karma – the result of previous reactions. Everything has a cause to create an effect. And yes, we are all born with certain problems and opportunities. Judging what is a problem and what is an opportunity is an extremely subtle process – a seeming problem could be the precursor to enlightenment :-), while an chance to have a wonderful life could create problems. 🙂

First note the effect of complaining on others, and then reflect if we do this same thing more often than not. If we see this in others, it means that we recognise it – and that is significant. We all complain, but the way we deal with it is either to develop empathetic understanding towards self and others, or just continue to complain.

The little things that annoy us are our path.
It’s that simple.

A positive view brings a positive outcome,
for all involved.

Think of all the other habits we have,
and how they too are having a lasting effect!

The eternal universe is governed by attraction, repulsion, and inertia;
evil knows this, so we have to know this.

If we do not see the complete picture,
we are part of the problem … nay, we are the problem!