We’ve been conditioned as a society.
We’re led to believe that who we are is not enough and what we have is never enough. We are conditioned to always want more, seek more and be unsatisfied with what’s currently in front of us.
We’ve also been conditioned to be the centre of the world. Who we are matters and our story is one the universe needs to hear at the expense of all others. Humility has been relegated to remaining silent and letting others point out our greatness.
To look at another person’s success is to hate them because it’s what we want for ourselves. There’s nothing more outrageous than other people having what we want because we “deserve it more.” Even worse is to be working at something for years and have someone relatively new come into your field and leapfrog ahead of you.
The idea that life should be giving you more is nonsensical. Life gives you an opportunity to be alive and to work through anything that may come your way. Somebody will always have it better than you because your definition of better is always going to be something you don’t already have.
Jealousy is the epitome of succumbing to our lizard brain that doesn’t allow for emotions such as compassion, empathy and love to enter into the picture. It prevents the gamut of human interaction where two people can be together in the same room and appreciate the moment they are having.
It’s a sign of our brokenness and of being incomplete in our own journey. However, being willing to work on it will allow the emotion to transform you. The more you shine a light on jealousy, the more it exposes you to its silliness. You begin to laugh at it and realize its foolishness.
This is an emotion I continue to work on when its talons begin to take hold. The years spent shining a light on it in my own life has helped me to recognize when it’s coming around again. It allows me to see the triggers that would lead me into its well of misery.
We can’t have what’s not ours, but we can seek what we need in our own life. When we’ve done that part, an emotion like jealousy becomes obsolete.