Compare Leads to Despair

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Compare Leads to Despair


Have you noticed this in yourself, when you compare yourself to others? 

I know I have, and it feels awful. 

It is human nature to measure ourselves against others.  It comes from the primal, toddler brain and it keeps us in stress response or fight-or-flight mode. Despair. 

The wises man who lived, Solomon, has this to say about it:
Eccl 4:4 And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
When we use comparison to others to motivate ourselves, it is like chasing after the wind. It steals the joy from what we have accomplished.   

You hear the whisper: they are more respectable, they are more acceptable, they are more lovable....

May I offer some replacement thoughts? "That's a lie. That is chasing the wind. I don't chase the wind. "

I am not recommending passive inaction.  Eccl 4:5 Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves.

So if the best for of motivation is not comparison nor inaction, what is it? If we want to regain well being and accomplish the goals we have set our for, how do we motivate ourselves? 

Jordan Peterson has a fantastic solution, "Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today."

This is why I encourage my clients to take vitamin W3 everyday.  Three wins! Recognize, in writing, three accomplishments every 24 hours, without comparing them to anyone else.  

This is so motivating because it causes our brain to recognize that we can be depended on.  When we say we will do something, we do it.  And every 24 hours we begin again. 

You are doing this for your own validation - no one else's.

Here are two translations of Proverbs 14:30:
A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

Peace of mind makes the body healthy, but jealousy is like a cancer.

The thoughts of comparison will come up, but we can supervise our thoughts and direct them in a way that serves us and Our Father.  

Let me help you learn how to motivate yourself to accomplish your goals of managing stress and overcoming urge eating. 
Click here for a free one-on-one strategy session.  https://calendly.com/peggyhinman8/free-strategy-session

You are worth it,
Peggy 

P.S. This teaching was adapted from Andy Stanley's message "Contentment" 




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