We all know there is a difference between venting and complaining. Yes, there are definitely times we need to get things off of our chest, lightening our emotional and mental load. But there is a fine line when we are no longer venting and ease into the lane of complaining and stagnation.

Not only does it mean you feel a greater sense of emotional distress with the situation, but you are also literally rewiring your brain to stay in what I call the “lane of negativity”. Have you ever heard the phrase, “neurons that fire together, wire together”? Essentially, it means the more we complain, the more our brain conditions itself to see the negative in this and future situations.

To shift away from this destructive and limited thinking, we have to start by assessing for the external forces/reinforcers that have created this brain pattern…