The next time you feel jealous, try this
Everybody feels jealous sometimes.
Envy is often sparked when we compare ourselves to others. And while it is a natural emotion to feel, we can also learn to quiet it by cultivating its opposite: appreciative joy. Buddhists call this mudita: celebrating in the happiness of others.
You know when you see an animal playing or a child exploring, and you can't help but smile because you're witnessing their joy? That's mudita. That's how you can feel any time you witness someone else succeed, grow, or thrive. It's joy that catches.
Start practicing with your closest loved ones. When something good happens to them, pause and put yourself in their shoes. Imagine, in as much detail as you can, the joy that they are feeling. Allow that joy to fill you up, immersing yourself in the happiness that they are experiencing.
You can then expand this, practicing with other people in your life, even those who may have sparked envy within you in the past. Repeat the same process.
In many ways, this is quite simply the smartest thing that you can do for your own happiness. You don't have to rely on good things happening only for you. You can appreciate the good things that happen to everyone around you. Instantly, you're opening yourself up to more happiness. It's also this practice of appreciative joy that connects us more deeply to one another.
If you're still struggling to feel this joy, remember this. When something good happens to someone, when any additional bit of joy gets added to this world, it means that our world just got better. There's more goodness here than there was before. Isn't that something to celebrate? When we're connected, your good fortune is my good fortune is our collective good fortune.
