To complain is always non-acceptance 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.
Ordinary unconsciousness is always linked in some way with
denial of the Now. The Now, of
course, also implies the Here. Are
you resisting your here and now? Some people would always rather be somewhere
else. Their “here” is never good enough.
Through self-observation, find out if that is the case in
your life. Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now
intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options:
- · remove yourself from the situation
- · change it
- · or accept it totally.
If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must
choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the
consequences. No excuses. No negativity. No psychic pollution. Keep your inner
space clear.
(If there is truly nothing that you can do to change your
here and now, and you can’t remove yourself from the situation, then accept
your here and now totally by dropping all inner resistance. The false, unhappy
self that loves feeling miserable, resentful, or sorry for itself can then no
longer survive. This is called surrender. Surrender is not weakness. There is
great strength in it. Only a surrendered person has spiritual power. Through
surrender, you will be free internally of the situation. You may then find that
the situation changes without any effort on your part. In any case, you are
free.)
--from Eckhardt Tolle, The Power of Now
