Envious and obvious

I once read that many people will rather admit to murder and other attrocities, than admit to envy and jealousy.

Rather than attempting to solve for envy, I thought we may process a few questions.

Each time you smell envy or jelously, you can ask yourself these questions.

What about this person am I envious of exactly?

What’s the obvious downside of what I am envious of? What downside is not that obvious?

Am I willing to trade places with this person for a lifetime? That includes feeling everything they’ve felt, experiencing their pains and joys, and living in their body.

What may make others envious of me?

What will I do to forgive myself and transcend that feeling?

What shift is required for me to move from envy to gratitude?

And finally, what else am I grateful for?

The goal isn’t to find an hurried answer to these questions. Neither is it to permanently stop yourself from experiencing those feelings.

Instead, the goal is to support you in becoming the kind of person who defaults to gratitude instead of envy.

Gratitude works better. And that’s obvious.