Weekly newsletter
I. Prompts for motivation
When was the last time you noticed yourself deeply wanting something someone else had? How do you generally handle such a strong emotion?
Can you think of any activities or achievements of others that make you feel envious? Is there some part of you that wishes that you could go after the same thing or something similar in your own way?
II. Thoughts for intention
Envy is an emotion we feel when we come across something we secretly desire for ourselves. It can happen following social comparisons influenced by a scarcity mindset. While envy is typically seen as a negative emotion and characterized by feelings of hostility, inferiority, and resentment, there are plenty of ways we can turn it into something positive and use it to our advantage.
When we learn to move past the temporary unpleasant feeling in the moment, envy can provide us with information about a dissatisfaction we want to change or a longing that we hope to achieve. The emotion may be highly complex, but it is up to us to choose whether we will allow it to corrode our sense of self-worth or transform it into a motivator for any personal improvements we genuinely yearn to manifest in our lives.
III. Ideas for preparation
When we name the emotion that seems to cloud our focus in the moment, we can give ourselves enough space to view it as a temporary shift in our normal mindset, and perhaps for an important reason. If we listen to our unpleasant feelings of envy carefully, we begin to understand what matters to us and what we may need to pay more attention to in our lives.
Sometimes, when we choose not to process our emotions regularly, we can suddenly end up feeling overwhelmed with a kind of negativity that we may not intellectually understand. But we can ask ourselves important questions about specific things we failed to complete or any residual emotions concerning past outcomes we were unable to deal with properly.
IV. Quotes for inspiration
“Look, no matter how much you want to be Y, you cannot be reborn as him. You are not Y. It’s okay for you to be you. However, I am not saying it’s fine to be ‘just as you are’. If you are unable to really feel happy, then it’s clear that things aren’t right just as they are. You’ve got to put one foot in front of the other, and not stop.”
― Ichiro Kishimi, The Courage to Be Disliked: How to Free Yourself, Change Your Life and Achieve Real Happiness
“I had some ambition. I meant everything to be different with me. I thought I had more strength and mastery. But the most terrible obstacles are such as nobody can see except oneself.”
― George Eliot, Middlemarch
