Which of the two options would you chose?

  • Make $50,000 a year, while everyone else makes $25,000
  • Make $100,000 a year, while everyone else makes $250,000

My yoga instructor presented this to our class last weekend. It was a study conducted in a psychology book she was reading. She said most people choose option A. Most people would rather make more money than everyone else, even if it’s not enough for them to make ends meet. Even if it’s less than what they are making now. Isn’t that interesting? It’s not wrong or bad, it’s just interesting that most people would rather make more than someone else to their own detriment.

Although, it’s human nature to compare ourselves to evaluate where we stand, it doesn’t seem to promote peace, compassion, or love. All economics aside, if I choose to make $100,000 a year, which is enough for me to survive, why do I need more? I would only need more because my neighbors had more. In my opinion, wanting to be better or have more than someone else does not lead to anything positive, or peaceful.

My amazing thought provoking yoga instructor requested we notice our tendency to compare ourselves to our neighbors, and observe how we diminish or build ourselves up based on their performance. She suggested trying to remember we are perfect as we are. We are perfect, whole, and complete, even if our neighbor can do a handstand and we can’t. She assured us that making that comparison would not help us be able to do a handstand. If we remove the comparison we could make space for being ok with our performance, and being happy for our neighbors. I couldn’t agree more, which is why I wanted to share this with you.

I hope this motivates you to notice the next time you compare, and diminish yourself or someone else. I hope you are motivated to stop comparing, and start loving you and the life you have. I believe if we cure ourselves of coveting what our neighbors have and appreciating what we have, we will live in a more loving and peaceful world. “What a wonderful world this could be!”

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