Be a creator, not a complainer

 I dropped a box of sweet and sour pork on the floor today. My white refrigerator became a piece of abstract art, red sauce dripping down its door. Course it matched the saucing running down the cabinets and the puddle on the floor. Sweet and sour everywhere isn’t all that sweet.

I wanted to throw a fit. But a fit – standing the in the puddle of sauce – wasn’t going to get it cleaned up. So I immediately grabbed a wad of paper towels and plotted how best to get the goo gone. I’m not saying I didn’t mutter a slew of cuss words as I was working, sometimes a well-placed ?%&* can feel good, but I kept working just the same trying to get that mess cleaned up rather than staying stuck,  in well, the sauce.

I became a creator rather than a complainer.

The spilled-sauce scenario can be a metaphor for all the sticky situations in life. Live enough days on this planet and you’re going to face some big stuff and plenty of little annoyances. There are bound to be whole days where things don’t seem to go your way.

What are you going to do with that? Stay in the ick, the messy moments, and complain about them? Or, are you going to notice the trouble — maybe even fuss for a moment if it makes you feel better – and then create a solution to clean it up and move into a better feeling state?

Totally up to you.

I work to be on the creator side of things. I don’t want to be in the hard spot any longer than I have to be. And, not only do I want to come out of the mess I want to come barreling out of it – thriving, loaded with inspiration and attitude and energy.

I want to discover the gift of the difficulty, clean it up, and use it to create a better experience in the next moment and the next.

You too can become a creator in your life. It’s merely a choice. And, if you decide to go that route, here are some do’s and don’ts to keep in mind.

Creators Do:

Seek meaning in every experience.
Act with self-compassion. They don’t beat themselves up when they make a mistake or fall into a funk. They notice it, appreciate their humanness and then take the next appropriate action.
Act accountably for their choices and all that comes into their lives.
Willingly experience all of life – the smooth and bumpy – knowing that the power is in the process rather than any final outcome.
Acknowledge their frustrations or disappointments, the things that aren’t working as well as they would like, then they work like a dog to create positive changes.
Feel good. They recognize that life is dynamic and fluid. They roll with uncertainty because they know that any change means growth and expansion and positive things.

Creators Do Not:

Blame others for their unhappiness.
Focus on what isn’t working, they focus on what is working.
Make excuses.

Think about how these things work in your life. If you decide to be more of a creator than complainer, all you have to do is begin by adding a couple of these things into your life, or eliminating a point or two from the Do Not category and you’ll automatically shift your experience and uplift the planet for the rest of us.