T
tessi
Guest
How do you do to avoid feeling envy? I wish I wouldn’t feel that way but I can’t help it inside.
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S
strngrnrth
Guest
Tough, isn’t it? I compare my life to really bad lives. When I’m walking and hot and I see someone cruising by in a convertible I remember the people who have to stay the night in a safe house in the forest in silence without fire and get up at two a.m. and sneak off to church. I see people waiting in line outside a fine restaurant whn I’m walking home hungry to make a sandwich and i remember how many people have never had anything but rice, corn, filthy water, and a scrap of pork fat or a soup bone for sepcial occasions, who consider salt a delicacy. I look outside at a street I don’t always feel safe going out to exercise on, and I start envisioning a parkside apartment with a balcony and gym – and then I remember reading the Gulag Archipelago and how the men would spend most of their time waiting for the twice-daily latrine trip, because they could go outside then and walk a little bit. It works pretty well. I still slip up often though but not like I used to.
W
water
Guest
Could you spend 24 hours today and give thanks to God for whatever He has given you without asking God for anything else?
You give thanks to God not only for what He has given to you but also to others. Even if, for example, you see someone beautiful, and when you are envy for her/his beauty, you could immediately turn to God and say “Thanks God for giving me my eyes to see the beauty of your creature”? Another example: when you see someone who is smarter than you and have everything he ever wanted, could you give thanks to God that He has given wisdom to the man so that he can be useful to the society or…at least he has a home? … or when you see your friend has a nice boyfriend/girlfriend, you could give thanks to God for givng all of us a heart to love.
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MarieVeronica
Guest
This might be helpful. The moment you open your eyes in the morning… thank God for giving you another day. It is a humbling thought, when we realize… that people sometimes die, in their sleep. Thank God, for His greatest gift to you. Life. In this way, perhaps you can find it easier to find the other blessings in your life (and avoid feelings of envy). I don’t know if this helps or not. It has been helpful in my own life, though. So… thought I’d share it. God bless you. 
K
kate64
Guest
I always feel that I am blessed and I don’t care what anybody else does or has. I do what’s right for me and my family. My life could be worse. I could be ill, unemployed, dirt poor, homeless, uneducated or even disabled. I thank God for all He has blessed me with. My one friend always says to me," I wish I could be more like you. You are always happy and you never complain." There are things we all complain about or wish we have, but I am very satisfied w/ what I have. When you have your health, consider yourself wealthy. Take time to reflect upon all the good things that you have and all the blessings God bestowed on you. My mother had the most enjoyment keeping a beautiful house filled with beautiful things. She will have passed away four years in Nov. this year. I realized that everything she loved was all left behind . She was not able to take one thing w/ her. It is all stored in my house to be dispersed to my daughters someday. I have many wonderful memories, but that is all there is now. Appreciate what you have and do what is right for YOU. Quit looking at, and wanting what others have. Sometimes people appear to be happy. They have everything, so it seems, but some people are never happy. You can’t buy happiness. It has to come from within. (Nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors.)
Count your blessings and cherish all that God has bestowed upon you.
kate ;
Count your blessings and cherish all that God has bestowed upon you.
kate ;
A
allhers
Guest
Pray for the opposite virtue, in this case it would be poverty in spirit or charity right?
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reen12
Guest
Hello, tessi. Any emotion, that a human being expereinces,
is just that - an emotion. Trying not to “feel” envy, is like trying
to stop a sneeze, in mid-sneeze.
So what’s with God demanding us not to "covet’ what another has?
Not to be envious, or jealous? Maybe because He does not want
me to be hurt, in thinking that everyone else has something that
I don’t have. Maybe He does not want me to dwell on these
thoughts, because such thoughts make me sad, and that is not
good for me.
Case in point: At age 21 I had evvvvverything a woman could want.
Brains, beauty, good friends, a first-rate education, academic awards.
The whole 9 yards. I was told, many times, that I looked like a young Liz Taylor.
Trouble is, my father had schizophrenia, and I was seriously mentally ill.
[Pop looked a lot like Tyrone Power.]
I watched my classmates go out into the world, earn advanced degrees, marry, start families.
And there I was - the class covergirl, in my senior year - too ill to study for a PhD, and too ill, psychologically, to ever bring children into this world.
Fast forward, 40 years. Now I have to listen to my classmates, of yore,
speaking of their grandchildren, my good looks are now a thing of the past,
with ‘senior moments’ popping up like dandilions, and I ache all over.
My classmates ‘wine cellars’ are filled - with the fine wines of life lived to the full,
while my ‘cellar’ is empty.
This is a bitter thing to deal with, at the age of 62. Never to have
carried a child, never knowing motherhood.
How many of my classmates might have looked at me with envy, way back then?
The girl who had it all. Appearances are just that. Appearances.
And when I feel really sad, inside, God says “Don’t worry, bunny,
you have been brave.” For those who feel envy, there is a child’s
story, Round Bird, that helped me. I felt just as Round Bird did,
as he tried to climb a tree.
magickeys.com/books/roundbrd/15.html
I don’t think that God wants me to ‘pretend’ - that I don’t feel sad,
or to pretend that I didn’t want those very good things, too. But when I really hurt,
listening about other’s grandchildren [after 25 years of listening about their kids]
I tell God the truth. “I wish I had that.” And a loving God says to me:
“I know you do, bunny. Come sit here, next to Me.” And then I feel better. http://bestsmileys.com/nono/9.gif
reen
is just that - an emotion. Trying not to “feel” envy, is like trying
to stop a sneeze, in mid-sneeze.
So what’s with God demanding us not to "covet’ what another has?
Not to be envious, or jealous? Maybe because He does not want
me to be hurt, in thinking that everyone else has something that
I don’t have. Maybe He does not want me to dwell on these
thoughts, because such thoughts make me sad, and that is not
good for me.
Case in point: At age 21 I had evvvvverything a woman could want.
Brains, beauty, good friends, a first-rate education, academic awards.
The whole 9 yards. I was told, many times, that I looked like a young Liz Taylor.
Trouble is, my father had schizophrenia, and I was seriously mentally ill.
[Pop looked a lot like Tyrone Power.]
I watched my classmates go out into the world, earn advanced degrees, marry, start families.
And there I was - the class covergirl, in my senior year - too ill to study for a PhD, and too ill, psychologically, to ever bring children into this world.
Fast forward, 40 years. Now I have to listen to my classmates, of yore,
speaking of their grandchildren, my good looks are now a thing of the past,
with ‘senior moments’ popping up like dandilions, and I ache all over.
My classmates ‘wine cellars’ are filled - with the fine wines of life lived to the full,
while my ‘cellar’ is empty.
This is a bitter thing to deal with, at the age of 62. Never to have
carried a child, never knowing motherhood.
How many of my classmates might have looked at me with envy, way back then?
The girl who had it all. Appearances are just that. Appearances.
And when I feel really sad, inside, God says “Don’t worry, bunny,
you have been brave.” For those who feel envy, there is a child’s
story, Round Bird, that helped me. I felt just as Round Bird did,
as he tried to climb a tree.
magickeys.com/books/roundbrd/15.html
I don’t think that God wants me to ‘pretend’ - that I don’t feel sad,
or to pretend that I didn’t want those very good things, too. But when I really hurt,
listening about other’s grandchildren [after 25 years of listening about their kids]
I tell God the truth. “I wish I had that.” And a loving God says to me:
“I know you do, bunny. Come sit here, next to Me.” And then I feel better. http://bestsmileys.com/nono/9.gif
reen
T
tessi
Guest
It’s easy not to be envious when you look misery from outside. When you are surrounded by people “better off”, even your own family, is very hard.
- Status