352: Sometimes It is Okay to Compare Yourself to Others
While there are no steadfast rules about living joyfully, there are some tenets or strong suggestions to heed. One of the simplest is to avoid comparing yourself to anyone else. Invariably when we do this we end up short, comparing ourselves to the most successful, wealthy or attractive.
Quite simply comparison leads to dissatisfaction. That is, in almost all cases. There actually are times when it can serve you as long as your heed the one caveat that goes with it.
In the most narcissistic of times we fall into bouts of self-pity, thinking our lives are without hope. In these times it is okay to turn to others to see the lives they are experiencing. In many cases they are doing better in far bleaker circumstances.
It is in no way okay to judge their existence, you never could understand their life. But in those times of self-pity it will serve you to see people with less, doing more. It helps put things in perfect perspective.
In this episode of ZEN commuter I discuss the times it is okay to compare yourself to others.