Welcome back to No Whining Wednesday, the only day of the week that you do not get to whine, complain, or criticize.
If you’re new to this, please visit Week One HERE. (I have also added the badge to the sidebar).
Each week I will post an inspiring quote to help you to get through the day. And not just you of course but me too. In fact, this quote is inspired by my experience last week. By talking with you guys about it I learned that it wasn’t such a bad day, just that I needed to endure for a little while before things went smooth. Isn’t that what struggle is all about? Today is all about persevering, resolve, and endurance. Try not to take the situations you face today so personally. Instead, think about how you can get through the situation and what you may learn from the experience.
This quote is so speaking to my life right now! I hope it gives you just as much courage to face today as it’s doing me. It’s the middle of the work week but don’t let life make you a slave to the weekend. Even though it’s around the corner, you can enjoy TODAY just the same. To your success.
Welcome to Day One of No Whining Wednesdays! A new segment of The PBS Blog.
The No Whining Wednesday Badge
What is NWW?
No Whining Wednesdays is something coined by Iyanla Vanzant that I decided to adopt into this blog. It means that for the entire day today you CANNOT do the following:
– Whine
– Complain
– Criticize
Here are some definitions:
To Whine – give or make a long, high-pitched complaining cry or sound; to grumble, murmur or complain in a feeble way.
To Complain – express dissatisfaction or annoyance about a state of affairs or an event; state that one is suffering from; state of grievance.
To Criticize – indicate the faults of (someone or something) in a disapproving way; to condemn, attack, discourage.
OK, now that we all know what whining, complaining, and criticizing is, there is only one rule: DON’T DO ANY OF THIS TODAY.
Punishment:
If you whine, complain, or criticize at all today you must put a quarter in a jar. If you have no quarter you can put a dime, nickel, or penny. Of course, this is optional. The idea is to hold yourself accountable and to maintain self-control. If that means investing a few quarters then do that. If it means something else, do that Maybe you can deny yourself that favorite snack or fast food. Just make it fun.
Every week I will post an inspirational quote to help us to get you started. I’m going to go out and purchase me a notebook and record my experiences and thoughts there. You can too or you can record your experience on your own blogs, it’s up to you. This activity is personal so it will be up to you, to be honest about how well you did. You can share it with us or not. It’s a completely personal exercise.
Rewards
Less stress and a happier, and overall greater appreciation for all things and all people in your life. Together, we will strive to be more grateful by eliminating complaints and discouragement from our lives, one Wednesday at a time. (Not to mention you can save some money).
Inspiring Quote of the Day
“Remember, you and you alone are responsible for maintaining your energy. Give up blaming, complaining and excuse making, and keep taking action in the direction of your goals – however mundane or lofty they may be.”
– Jack Canfield
Wait! What if I start whining!?
First, go find some quarters. But if you’re struggling, no worries. You can take a moment to:
Pray
Sing
Listen to Music
Read
Write
Think about / Count your blessings
Call a Friend
Clean the house
Anything productive
Today is yours. Go out and conquer it and remember, no complaining!
Distractify.com recently published a list of reasons why reading a book is a life-changing experience. Here are my favorite ones!
1 . Reading a novel increases brain function for days.
Research from Emory University has found that reading a book can increase connectivity in the brain which makes neurological changes that act like muscle memory. Books not only put you in someone else’s shoes in a figurative sense, but also in a biological sense.
2 . Reading can help prevent Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
Increased brain function is also useful for other things — various studies have shown that adults who engage in hobbies that stimulate the brain, such as reading, are less likely to have Alzheimer’s disease. The brain is an organ like any other and just as exercise strengthens the heart, reading strengthens the brain.
3 . Reading reduces stress. Do you take a walk or listen to music…
They said she had a voice for radio. That her voice had been blessed. And that angels played on the strings of her vocal chords. That her mind had the ability to cough up words from other dimensions that she, danced on the streets of clouds. Somewhere in the storage rooms they said she danced somewhere beyond where beyond is. Maybe, they guessed, maybe the source of her strength is where the secret of the wind is. Maybe it’s where forever is. They said she had a voice for radio. What they didn’t know was that similes were first scattered to the four corners of the earth. Racing to the back room to see who would get to the bed first, or the floor, hardwood, chair, you see life for her ain’t been no crystal stair. Plastic bags with all her stuff they stared cause, she didn’t know what a home was. She had to tell them that though beautiful, this voice was first pregnant and had to go through labor pains before it gave birth.
Interesting post on how reading impacts writing. I’ve been saying this for years. Post Quote:
“This article describes a study in which a group of adult readers identified their most frequently read materials such as online magazines (and memes), newspapers, genre and literary fiction, and other written sources. Researchers then looked at the level of writing that each participant exhibited and found a correlation between what types of material people read and the complexity of their writing.”
You are what you read. That is a simple enough concept, but it turns out that it means more than just that people who read mysteries may become better at writing mysteries. What a person reads fundamentally changes the structure of his or her writing.
In June of 2016, the International Journal of Business Administration published “Syntactic and Lexical Complexity of Reading Correlates with Complexity of Writing in Adults”. (You can read the full text of the article online.) This article describes a study in which a group of adult readers identified their most frequently read materials such as online magazines (and memes), newspapers, genre and literary fiction, and other written sources. Researchers then looked at the level of writing that each participant exhibited and found a correlation between what types of material people read and the complexity of their writing. People who spend most of their time reading Buzzfeed articles…
Excellent advice. Post quote: ” I think of self-publishing like reaching the legal drinking age. Just because you can legally drink doesn’t mean all the other drinking rules are off the table – a fact most folks learn before they reach the legal drinking age. So any advice on knowing when your book is ready has its limits. What I offer is not any set rules because there aren’t any. Instead, I’m going to provide a little advice, so you don’t show up at your new job Monday morning stupid drunk.”
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Throughout the 20th Century, book publishing was a gated industry. With few exceptions, if an author wished to publish a novel he or she needed to endure the rite of passage. Agencies and ultimately publishers decided if a book had merit and sale-ability. If the content and writing were good enough, the publisher ensured the book appeared to the public in its “best” form. That is, beautiful cover, full editing, compelling book blurb and supported by some marketing. Published books still might not meet with readers’ love, but technically they met certain standards of readability if not enjoyability.
Self-publishing provided a method to circumvent these gatekeepers for both good and bad. Still, with few exceptions, most authors want to ensure their published works are well-received. Is my book good enough? Have I made any errors? Should I put it out there? These are the questions that haunt self-published authors…or should…
Distractify.com
The PBS Blog 