Emotions like Jealousy and anger can teach us a lot if we give them a chance.
Jealousy is one amazing teacher that I met. On few occasions in the past, I found myself comparing my life to someone else’s and tried to justify in my mind how my life was better than theirs.
Gradually, critical judgement towards others and their work, started increasing. I would hardly be impressed with other’s accomplishments. At times, I would even try to do things better.
Before I went too far with it, the little voice in me who was getting burdened with these feelings asked me to ‘shut up and reflect’. reflect on what was causing this behaviour to arise.
I found some very interesting facts about Jealousy.
It creeps up when we lack love for a particular aspect of our own existence.
When we are confident about one area of our lives, we feel admiration for the people who possess the same quality. For example, I was confident about my work and therefore, I was always happy when I saw someone putting in the same amount of work, but, things were not the same when I saw someone having a great time out with their friends.
But why would I feel bad about someone else getting the things that are important to me as well ?
Because, I lacked love for myself in that area. I was not confident or content about my life outside of work. It was not because I did not have great friends, I was just denying my need of getting out there and letting myself loose once in a while. It was my excuse to stay in my comfort zone, and to not interact with the world.
Once I started putting in efforts on my life outside of work, on my relationships with my friends and started being more comfortable with putting myself out there. I was content with my life. I didn’t start partying every night, but I did not judge or got jealous of the people who were having a great time.
Jealousy is hard to accept
It is a courageous thing to accept that you feel jealous of another individual. Acceptance of jealousy also reveals what we truly desire. It highlights a part of us which needs more love. Acceptance of jealousy helps us look out for answers and ways to resolve it.
Resolving Jealousy
It can be resolved by working towards our relationship with the part that we do not love enough. Identifying that I needed more love and contentment in my personal life was the first step. The next step, was to cherish and to be thankful for the people who were in my life. I learned to love myself for who I was when I was not in office.
Jealousy eats you up and makes you look suspiciously at this world, it will also create more negative experiences because of a negative mindset. But, by learning what it is trying to teach us we can transform our lives.
Photo by Amy Shamblen on Unsplash
