Blatherskite

One of my favorite patrons came into the library yesterday. He is paralyzed from waist down and can only say a few phrases. His brain, otherwise, works fine and he understands everything we say to him. He is a brilliant man and his reference questions are quite challenging. I have had to learn how to do Reference by telepathy with him. I am not even kidding about this. Often when I help him with a question I am reading his mind. I have grown to really like this man and and am always happy to see him when he comes to the library.

When he was leaving yesterday he stopped by my desk to say hello. He asked (one of the few phrases he can say) “How are you?” I responded, “Well, I have a little cold and I’m not feeling super great.” He kind of looked at me and said one of the other things he says, “That’s all.”

It was like a bolt of lightening hit me. Here is this amazing person getting along in the world having gone through what his has gone through and I’m complaining about having a cold. That’s all, indeed.

Several friends from my meditation group have been talking about this book, “A Complaint Free World” for several months. The idea in the book is to wear a bracelet and every time you complain you switch the bracelet from one wrist to the other. The goal is to go 21 days without switching the bracelet.

When I have heard them talk about this it has made me cringe and recoil something fierce. I have always believed that there is nothing wrong with complaining and that venting can even be healthy. I don’t know if this is true, but this is what I have always told myself. If you have read this blog for any length of time you know that I am a fan of “venting.” Venting has been what has kept this blog alive for more than 10  years.

On Wednesday, however, our sangha’s teacher talked about this book and, for whatever reason, instead of recoiling I accepted this idea as something I might try.

Actually, I know why I decided to listen. I have been feeling a huge sense of dissatisfaction with my life lately and I am tired of feeling this way. I feel like I need to do something to change the way my brain works. I feel like there is too much negativity up there and I am tired of living with it. So I have decided to do something about it.  I am going to read this book and try to follow this program.

When I shared it on Facebook several friends showed an interest and mentioned that they “need to read this book too.” So I suggested that we read it together and chat about it.

Are you interested in reading this with me? I will be posting my thoughts about this process as I read the book so we can discuss our experience here if you want to try this too!