Jealousy can be a hard pill to swallow. It makes our stomachs turn, our hearts beat and gives us an overall bad feeling about ourselves. When other people do well, we shouldn’t be envious or should we?
I’d say the best way to deal with feelings of jealousy is to embrace it. That may sound odd but being envious is actually a good indicator of what may be missing in your life. I use it as a barometer for what goals I need to work on and what’s important to me.
Try it. The interesting thing about envy is that you won’t have the same reaction to everyone and everything. Pay attention to what it is that’s making you envious and you’ll get a good clue about what you need to focus on for yourself. For example, your next door neighbor’s good news about being promoted might not do anything for you but hearing your co-worker just ran a marathon might get your jealous juices flowing. That’s also good news for you because it may push unconscious desires to the surface where you can work on obtaining them. So the next time you start to look a little “green with envy,” don’t try to wash those feelings away. Instead, stop, take inventory, and go out and grab those things you desire for yourself!