Do you look in a puddle or jump in?

Jealousy can be a vicious enemy, an ever looming thought, a temptatious desire, a weight that burdens, a guilt, a mystery, or even an obstacle. Sometimes it is hard to even pin point jealousy- who or what you are jealous of or those who are jealous of you. It can create great tension in relationships even when you do not acknowledge the feeling. It is certainly better to recognize jealousy in order that you can make amends to deviate from those feelings and do something better with it. We all need to pay closer attention to that fact that we often are reacting toward jealous feelings. Instead of reacting to jealousy with hate, self-pity, grudge, false judgement, and detainment, we need to change our course of action. Redirect jealousy into positive action. Staring into the puddle and seeing a reflection of someone who you are unhappy with does nothing for self-betterment. If you see something in that puddle that makes you unhappy, do not just stand there, jump in and make things happen. If you are jealous of someone else's accomplishments, rather than blame them for your ill-feelings, allow them to influence you in positive ways and try to succeed yourself.

I think that I need to start to recognize my jealousies in order to make my life more satifying as well. I have started to jot down things that I am jealous of in my life and what I can do to change course...

1. I think I am envious of students who have either earned their own way through college or have earned scholarships to pay for it. I feel like I would be so proud of myself and have more respect for my own college experience. If I feel this way I should start to look for more scholarships that reflect my own accomplishments and apply for them.

2. I am jealous of people who really make an effort to reach out to others every day no matter what is going on in their own life. They will take time to listen to you even if it takes away from their own "sacred" time. I need to give more attention to m friends and family as well so that they feel like I am dedicating special time to them as well.

From now on, I will try to pay more attention to the feeling of envy and jot it down and at the end of the week I will reevaluate the situation so that I actively make my life more satisfying.