"Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content."
- Helen Keller
"What we see is often just a snapshot. Mistaking the Glimpse for reality generally leads us to either judge or covet. Neither of which is beneficial for anyone involved. One moment does not define a life."
"The answer to our mental self-obsession appears to be pulling the reins on those wandering thoughts and bringing our minds back to the people standing next to us. Relationship seems to be key to our search for peace. I can choose to simply accept the kindness without making it about me in some negative way. "
"Jelousy is a useless, time-wasting emotion that's eating me alive."
- A. J. Jacobs
Schadenfreude: Harm-joy
"And I asked myself, am I loving them well? Really loving them for who they are, not who I want them to be or think they ought to be or who society says they should be? Am I loving them for the special individuals they are? Am I helping them discover their unique gifting and building them up in that? Even when such gifting might take them down a road that looks a bit different from what I or everyone around me expects or values?"
"We should love men enough not to envy."
-Francis Schaeffer
"One of the biggest problems with envy is it shows a lack of appreciation for my own uniqueness and worth. When you and I envy another person, we aren't even seeing ourselves. The other one, the envied one, becomes all-important to us. He's gifts, her successes, their achievements! We spend our energies watching someone else, being threatened by that person, not wanting him or her to succeed. So, in the process, we don't develop our own potential...
"Suppose we can see the successes, the accomplishments, the victories of others as gifts also. That puts them in a different light, when I'm doing that, I discovered, it's hard to keep on envying them. I find myself beginning to celebrate, to rejoice in, what God is doing through them. And that's a victory I could never win by myself. It's a gift of grace."
-William Brownson
" If I can keep in mind that the wall to which I am racing has been uniquely predestined and calibrated to my specifications, I can break free from envy and discontent. I can be happy for you when you hit a home run. I can find satisfaction in doing my best."
"To be nobody-but-yourself-in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else-means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."
-e.e. cummings
"Excellence is not being the best but doing your best."
-Unknown
"If they can go through their lives looking for and appreciating what's good in their friendships, in their romantic relationships and in their work - even if their work is more modest than it would have been 10 years ago - they can live an incredibly satisfying life that way."
-Barry Schwartz
"Unexpected adventure makes for a better story."
-Lynn O'Rourke Hayes
"It isn't wrong to have goals and hopes and dreams. Or to work diligently toward such things. But when those expectations determine our contentment, we may have a problem. Because things usually don't end up the way we think they will."
"A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour."
-Unknown
