A Complaint Free World, impossible? 5,000,000 Members so far

As many great accomplishments and big ideas, an idea to get the world to quit complaining started from humble beginnings in a small church in Kansas City, Missouri. The church led by Rev. Will Bowen started the message with a normal sermon in their small suburban church and a simple passing of only 250 bracelets. The goal is not little by any means with Rev. Bowen wanting the entire world population to give up complaining, gossiping, criticizing and another popular past-time, sarcasm.

The idea is that the complaining, along with the other prohibited activities reduces prosperity in peoples lives and can create all kinds of problems by enforcing long term bad habits. To break this bad habit a complainaholic has to get a purple bracelet for free from the website and place it on their wrist. Every time the person catches themselves in a complaint, gossiping, criticizing or other associated bad habits, they are to switch their purple “Spirit” bracelet to the other wrist. To pass the test and break the habit it’s suggested that the duration of the purple bracelet fashion lasts for no less than 21 days. Rev. Bowen states that it takes 21 days to break a bad habit.

Have migraines? Have depression? Have business problems? No worries, this purple bracelet has had people writing in droves to the new organization distributing the bracelets with statements like:”

Since I learned to live a life without complaining, I no longer have migraines.”
-Tom Alyea

“But by far, the greatest gift I have received is the freedom from depression! “-Patricia Platt

“My life is fuller; happier. my Prospects for my business are better than ever and my relationships are more positive and there is less conflict in my life and relationships.”
-Joyce Cascio

You can read the testimonials on your own at the organizations website here. With some of the statements made it can almost make you wonder how sane some of the people are writing in their new found ways of life. However, it is a pretty solid fact that removing negativity from your life can do wonders for your soul, mind and physical well being. With happy campers abounding everywhere from their complaint free graduation, the word has spread far and wide the message of a complaint free world.

As many as 80 countries have received bracelets and adopted the new idea to change their lives by removing all the complaining, gossiping, criticizing and other bad things running out of their mouths. The Oprah Winfrey Show even brought on Rev. Will Bowens for a feel good interview to spread the message about his complaint crushing campaign. Just recently the CBS Sunday Morning news had a featured interview and discussed the purple “spirit” bracelet. A recent report from Google’s hottest search terms of the day brings up the revealing fact that on Sunday March 23, 2008 it was the 27th most searched term on Google itself.

With 5,000,000 purple “Spirit” bracelets distributed it is probably easy to get swooped up into the excitement and jump in line to sport the latest fashion, a purple piece of silicone that will turn your life into a complaintless positive sphere. There are people that are not thrilled with the idea of removing complaints from your life.

Some experts believe the complaint process, in a world full of things to complain about, is a healthy process that helps individuals work through tough situations. Experts disagree about whether suppressing complaints is good for one’s mental health. “If people don’t need to complain, don’t want to, then great,” said Barbara Held, a psychologist and author of the book, “Stop Smiling, Start Kvetching.” “But if they do, there are ways to do it more productively and more beneficially and what’s wrong with that?” But the Rev. Bowen believes that tamping down the urge to complain is akin to successful anger management. “You catch yourself not articulating these negative thoughts that are in your head,” he said, “and because there’s no place for that to flow, they tend to dry up.” I’m still waiting for those negative thoughts to dry up.

At the peak of bracelet shipping, orders were reported to be 1,000 bracelets a day. From a start of only 250 bracelets those numbers are pretty staggering when you see that they have reached 5,000,000. Rev. Bowen likes to think about how much less “ear pollution” there is going around now if the average person complains 20 times a day. Assuming all the complaining is eliminated, yes of course it’s an impossibility, but the numbers come to a amazing 100,000,000 less complaints in the world.

What do you think Business Shrink show listeners and blog readers? Are you ready to sport the new bracelet and take a swing at your complaining and negative thoughts? Any professionals out there care to weigh in on any potential reasons this is a bad idea? whether you like it or hate it, it seems these purple “spirit” bracelets are going to continue to fly out the door and try to create, “A complaint Free World.”