How to Rediscover Stillness: Take the 21-Day Challenge to not Gossip, Criticise or Complain

Take Dr Cara Barker's 21-day Challenge to not gossip, criticise or complain!  It appears at the bottom of her post in HuffPost What Jesus and The Dalai-Lama would say to Tiger Woods and Mike Huckabee.

The purpose of this challenge is to encourage you to rediscover stillness by going within when you quiet the mental chatter. Here are the details as taken from her article:

For the next 21 consecutive days, do the following, and enjoy the process. This is the best preparation I know to enjoy the holidays as never before! By practicing these instructions, you will smile more, relax more, and relocate your sense of humor.

Your family will like you more. You will enjoy those you know, and do not know even more. New creative inspiration will come your way. You will notice new streams of abundance moving in your direction. Ah, but first, the practice:

1. Every morning and before you go to sleep: Lay down your burden. Breathe in and breathe out, until you find the deepest center of relaxation beneath the ripple of your thoughts, the worries of the day, and the concerns of what someone else might think.

As Terry Cole-Whitacre said it years ago: What you think of me is none of my business! What does matter is letting all this go, until you arrive at the destination called 'gratitude.'

Thank whatever is beyond your ego for another day of life, another opportunity to participate in Creation.

2. Contract with a partner of your choice to participate in this 21-day challenge, someone you'd enjoy checking in with for two minutes a day so that you can share your report of what you are noticing. This is a crucial step.

3. Over the next 21 days DO NOT Complain, Gossip, Criticize. You will be living in a Complaint-free zone. Keep watch. Self- interrupt. 

When you forget, forgive yourself, and start over; this new day becoming Day #1. If you stay true to the process, and forgive yourself as needed, be assured the results will warrant your practice. Have a ball.

On those days which are more challenging, cleave to the words of the poet Mary Oliver:

You don't have to be good. You don't need to crawl on your knees through the desert for a hundred miles repenting. All you need to do is love the small furry creature inside yourself...

Let us know how it goes. Let us know what helps you return to a practice of self-forgiveness. What helps you return to your own center? What have you found helpful when someone else is gossiping/complaining/criticizing/draining life energy?

I'm listening! Thanks for passing this along to your crew, your contacts, and your buddies. The more the merrier. Cara

  
I intend to start this Challenge the day I publish this post.