"So, what are you going to do about it?"

Amazing how that phrase works as well with my coworkers as it does with my kids. It's all about taking ownership and responsibility for the things that happen to you and your life. There is very, very little that happens to you that isn't your fault, ultimately. Aside from the out-of-the-blue, brick-falling-on-you-from-nowhere kind of stuff, everything that you do is your fault.

As I was walking my daughter up to school this morning (which is usually a pleasant experience) she was complaining about how I had (by not waking her up in time) *made* her late for school. She wasn't in the right frame of mind for a lesson about this at the time, but I'm going to talk to her about it tonight. I think this is a very important life-long lesson. Think about it.

Don't like your boss or coworker? Shoulda taken a different job. Or you could quit. Right now.

Don't like that you can't quit? Shouldn't have had those kids. Or bought that house. Or signed that long-term lease.

See what I mean? Everything is your fault.

On the flip side of responsibility is empowerment. You have the power to change that which you complain about. If you are seriously don't like that which you complain about, take the necessary steps to alter, support, shift, undo or revise those dependancies which keep you from fixing the broken stuff in your life. If you aren't willing to do that, at least quit your lame-assed whining.

Take it from a reformed whiner.