What Is Jealousy?

Sudha and a few friends from her class were sitting and chatting under a tree on their school campus. In fact, they were backbiting about their class topper. Somebody said that she was a bookworm and always studied. “She memorizes everything and that is the reason why she gets high scores. It is not because she is intelligent.” said one of the girls. They went back to their class as the bell rang.

Sudha’s mind was filled with thoughts about their discussion and it lingered in her mind long after she reached home. “We were all jealous of the topper, Radhika. Whatever the means, it was not by unfair means, she topped the class. It was sheer hard work. As we all assumed, if we are really intelligent, with our hard work we can do wonders.” She decided to stop envying Radhika and to be inspired by her. She took it as a challenge to prove her point.

From that day she started focusing on her studied and it was not surprising that she started getting good marks. She was inherently intelligent and her efforts paid off. She topped her half-yearly exams and everyone was surprised and her parents were very happy and proud. Her academic progress improved her self-confidence and it further boosted her morale.

Some people, like Sudha, are capable of introspection and self-assessment. Sudha realized that envy and jealousy were negative emotions and were toxic to her mind. This made her understand, why she was not getting good scores in her class. Indirectly the two negative emotions could be a way of appreciation for Radhika. The moment she understood this point, she became positive in her mindset and it became her strength.

From then onwards, Sudha became keenly observant of her feelings and emotions about others. She was convinced that negative emotions were in all probability, disguised as positive emotions like appreciation and esteem. She understood that perhaps a few endowments like looks, music and art are natural and inherent talents. If not all, many things can be achieved by hard work and industry. Envy only drains our energies. There is wisdom in utilizing this energy for our improvement. Having realized that fundamental truth, there was no stopping Sudha from reaching loftier heights in her life.