When we are naturally ambitious people we tend to gravitate towards challenges and high stakes environments. Be it in work or social activities, we seem to always find ourselves in something that is not your run of the mill circumstance. This is something I think we are often proud of, and rightfully so. We are smart and think outside the box and want to take the path less traveled to create an unique and fulfilling life. However, there is always a dark side to everything and to me the dark side can form in jealousy and competition. I have noticed that as we progress in our lives, especially as ambitious individuals, we feel that we are unique and unlike our peers, which is at first likely correct. But, as we advance in our life through experience and education, our peers start rising with us. If your social circles progress with your advancements, soon all of your peers are just like you. Suddenly you being ambitious or intelligent or whatever you heavily identified with, is just par the course. We all grew accustomed to feeling different, yet now we are all the same. This progress is a great sign for your movement in life but it can have an unfortunate side effect of unhealthy competition.
There is healthy and unhealthy competition of course. Healthy competition involves inspiring each other through mutual achievements while advancing your whole field towards greater excellence. Unhealthy competition focuses on eliminating each other and is driven by fear. What is this fear based on? This fear is often largely based in fear of losing your identity or importance. We may have gotten so used to being the top, a big fish in a small pond as it were, that once we are around our true peers we may start to feel some fear and anxiety. This can be combated though! First, by identifying where the emotions are stemming from and working backwards to properly identify them and second, by releasing these emotions with positive ones. So today for our mindfulness exercise we are going to focus on just this. We are going to identify roots of our jealousy and unhealthy competitions and neutralize them with rational thought processes and positive energy reinforcements.
To do this we will first come to our place we most enjoy to practice our meditations. Start with your mindful breathing, if you are new to these exercises please check out our previous lessons on mindfulness here and here. As you enter your mindful state, continue with your breathing and briefly scan your body noting places of pain or tension and releasing them. Now that you are completely in the moment, focusing on your breath and body you can bring your thoughts to something that makes you jealous. Is it a person you know, see on social media? Is it just your hopes for yourself? What does this jealousy feel like? Does it change your body temperature? Does it cause reactions in parts of your body? If so, where? Feel the jealousy as it manifests in your body. Now explore the emotion even deeper. What is causing the jealousy and why? Do you feel you can not achieve what they have? If so, why? Are you a victim of false advertising on social media or of wanting things society may want you to want but you do not actually desire? Contemplate why you are feeling jealousy. Feel free to write down the reasons why.
Now ask yourself, what can you do to achieve these things you want. Also, ask yourself if it is even in your plan. By now we are assuming you have set your life goals and plans, so feel free to cross compare. If not, see our exercise on how to form a goal here. Perhaps you are jealous of a friend's travel lifestyle but upon looking at your goals you are reminded that you are in a period where you must be frugal in order to achieve something even greater later on in life. Or perhaps you are jealous of a promotion or supposed earnings of another friend who seems to be the same caliber as you and you just do not understand why them and not you? While these things can be frustrating, weigh out everything that has occurred. Perhaps you need to focus more on that part of your life or perhaps your time is coming. It is just a little but luck of the draw. Write out your possible solution for these jealousies.
Once you have identified the roots of these jealousies you are ready to release these feelings with healing energy. Whether you are feeling these insecurities towards actual people or imagined lives on social media, or you are having inner battle in yourself or against an external goal, it is important to end this session with positive and healing energy. Thank your jealousy for showing you the things you need to work on in your life. Understand that the jealousy you feel isn't of itself toxic, but simply like the pain you feel when you step on something sharp. It is a warning that you are not moving exactly towards your goals and giving you a moment to reassess and shape your path. Send away the jealous emotions and replace them with thankfulness and peace. Visualize golden light surrounding your body. With every inhale you take in the light filled with healing, peace and protection. Every few breaths think about each of these. Breathe in thinking of the healing energy filling you, no longer filled with jealousy. Now move to peace, no insecurities keeping you awake at night. Finally, think about protection, there is no fear and nothing to be afraid of, just a future with unlimited possibilities.
Have you noticed insecurities popping up in your social and work life? How have you dealt with them? Tell us your questions and comments at info@bullionite.com