If you stop and take a hard look at daily conversation you'll find that 75 percent of it is negative. We complain about the weather, the traffic, work, food, movies, the younger generation, and much more. Negativity is a common denominator in our competitive and adversarial culture where we are each striving to be number one and are always comparing ourselves to others. Our consumer lifestyle is based on dissatisfaction with what we have, and so we are encouraged to always want something more, better, or different.
Will Bowen, a clergyman at Christ Church Unity in Kansas City, Missouri, decided to do something about all this complaining. On July 23, 2006, he passed out purple plastic bracelets at his church and admonished the congregation to start saying positive things instead of whining about everything. They were given three weeks to break the complaining habit. Every time they complained, criticized, or gossiped, they were to move the bracelet to the other wrist. Bowen's challenge enabled people to see how difficult it is to reformat their habit of speaking negatively: the average person found that it took four to eight months to be able to keep the bracelet on the same wrist for 21 consecutive days.
In this sprightly paperback, Bowen discusses this creative and ethical project which has resulted in nearly six million people in more than 80 countries requesting a bracelet and taking up his challenge. The average person complains 20 times each day, and this negativity has a dire effect on health, relationships, career, and level of happiness. St. Paul in Philippians 2:14 says "Do everything without complaining," and that is very good advice. And too, those who strive to live in a complaint-free world will have more time to notice and celebrate what they have to be grateful for.
