(A New Thought Entry) How to Tame the Test Twins: Envy and Self-Pity

“We are here to do, and through doing, to learn; and through learning to know; and through knowing to experience wonder; and through wonder to attain wisdom; and through wisdom to find simplicity; and through simplicity to give attention; and through attention to see what needs to be done.” Ben Hei Hei

Envy: a feeling of discontent. It’s what drives progress.

“Envy is the basis of democracy.” Bertrand Russell

“It is a benefit to spread a discontent with ugliness in dress, house, and furniture. The peddler and storekeeper are missionaries of civilization and through their labor we have reached the point at which the poorest are no longer content with what once satisfied the most opulent. But, much remains to be done.” Robert Ellis Thompson, Professor of Political Economy, Univ. Of Pennsylvania, 1899

Envy at the extreme is a feeling of ill will because of another’s advantages, possessions, social standing, career, financial status, spiritual growth, etc.

How to tame extreme envy:

• Complain less.
• Criticize less and pay more attention to complimenting; look for the positive.
• Attack less, even in consciousness; hear and practice the Call to Love.

“When you behold others with the eyes of love, you see your own magnificence.” Anon.

Pity: sympathetic or kindly sorrow evoked by the suffering, distress, or misfortune of another, often leading one to give relief or aid or to show mercy and compassion.

Self-Pity: a indulgent attitude toward one’s own affliction, difficulties hardships, etc. Extreme self-pity keeps us from moving forward.

How to tame extreme self-pity:

• Talk less, pay more attention to silence.
• Obsess less about past and future; pay more attention to now.
• Think less about what’s wrong; pay more attention to what’s right.

“Away, then with solemnity, for life is fun, an ever-renewed beginning, and all suffering--our own, our neighbors’, our friends’--is only the tragic element in a show which, without it, would be very dull indeed.” Christmas Humphries, Buddhist writer