Even cowgirls get the blues

The West’s New Hottest Wine Region Is South of the Border

cerulean summer

Big Sur, California

by Raymond Carver

The question isn’t how to dull yourself to an emotion but rather to investigate it. It is when an emotion has spoken and we have truly listened that it will go. 

Ask yourself:

What am I afraid I am missing out on?

Why am envious of this specific person, situation, or thing?

What might this say about my priorities and desires?

How would I feel if I were free from feeling envious?

Sitting for daily meditation will also help to quell the causes of envy. 

During meditation, there is nowhere to go, nowhere to escape to. All sorts of difficult thoughts and feelings may arise. You balance between paying attention to this and also not getting caught up in thoughts about it. That is mindfulness: witnessing without interrupting. Letting things come and go. 

Envy happens when we feel empty or unwhole and we look for fulfillment in something external. When it seems like someone is enjoying what we cannot enjoy, we mistakenly direct our distress at the person or the circumstances. 

When you are thirsty, drinking alcohol may be enjoyable but it will not actually satisfy your thirst. You need water. Similarly, looking for things outside yourself for wholeness may give you fleeting experiences of happiness but in the long run it is only peace that will satisfy you totally. 

That peace is the fragrance of your innate wholeness when you consciously recognize and embody it. 

A book that I’d highly recommend is The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.