Envy and Jealousy

Envy and jealousy go hand in hand. Sometimes, we encounter challenging situations and people who cause them. Envy and jealousy are emotional attributes that affect an individual’s feelings, thoughts, and behavior.  

First, we must understand the definitions of the two words and the contrast and comparison. Envy is someone wanting your success, qualities, or possessions. Jealousy is knowing you have lost or are losing someone to another individual. Think about it: How many have you experienced a person you may know who envies you or you envy them?  This is a revolving door of feelings we all go through. We all deal with jealousy and envy in one way or another. Some people deal with jealousy and envy daily.  

An example of a daily interaction of jealousy and envy would be in a working culture or environment. In the workforce, people watch each other every day, and it doesn’t matter what position the individuals are in; they are managers or just regular co-workers. People see what another individual has accomplished or achieved and want what they have, but some people will do whatever it takes to ruin a successful individual. This is where emotions are displayed, which is called Cognitive Behavior Theory.  If you really want to put it in prospective and theory, it may be compared to Newton’s Third Law of Motion but the discussion is about emotion not motion, which states, “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” However, let’s face it, we are not talking about Newton’s Laws of Motion but emotions. Interesting concept for future topics.

In conclusion, envy and jealousy cause an individual to react because thoughts create feelings, feelings create behavior, and behavior creates feelings, which is a continuous and emotional cycle.  Lastly, “Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion explain the relationship between a physical object and the forces acting upon it.” This may be another topic to discuss in a future article. However, the question will be, are some people treated as possessions or objects by others, which causes an individual to react emotionally when hurt?