When you get mad at your loved ones because they haven’t met your expectations…

Or when you complain how slow your Internet is, or how toxic your workplace is, or how poor the customer service at your favorite restaurant is…

It could mean that you lose perspective.

Think about it for a second.

What if today is the last day you hear the voice of your loved ones?

What if today’s the last time you eat that delicious cuisine at your favorite restaurant?

Or what if today’s the last time you see the light of the day? Imagine that for a moment.

It’s easy to complain, burst with anger, and blame others for our unhappiness.

What’s hard is to stay fully aware that any day could be our last day.

A helpful practice is to find a different point of view.

Because sometimes we don’t need explanations from other people. We don’t need to know everything happening behind the scenes.

What we need instead is an understanding that the world doesn’t always work our way, and there are things we can control and can’t control.

And also, empathy. More of it.

Imagine that’s our default setting.

Wouldn’t it be more peaceful to live life that way?

“If you took one-tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you’d be surprised by how well things can work out… Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won’t make us happier.” ― Randy Pausch