The nature of envy

Envy is a universal emotion that we’ve all experienced at some time or another. It isn’t easy to transform envy into learning. A problem occurs when it starts to take you over and predominates your emotional state.

Those who succumb to it and cause damage to others often end up los...

It’s directly related to a lack of self-esteem and autonomy. It’s also connected with a lack of empathy. Those who envy aren’t evil, but they’re people who’ve failed to make healthy assessments of themselves. They’re unable to transform their envy because they possess strong dou...

They feel linked to the other being, in many cases without even being conscious of the fact. If you ask them about the other, they’ll speak badly of them.

Deep down, they’ve developed a strong identification with the person they envy. They feel that the other person has som...

Envy-inspired behaviors are more likely in contexts that make empathy difficult, such as where there’s competition. In addition, it’s often the source of prejudice. Envious people might say, “he’s not supposed to be so successful; I’ve worked far harder than he h...

For example, do they know exactly how much the person they’re so envious of had to fight to obtain what they have? Or what barriers they’ve had to overcome? Are they capable of constructively identifying the values that have produced the differences between the two of them that prove so annoying ...