Is there healthy envy?

Have you ever asked yourself the question in the title of this article? Can envy really be healthy? Quevedo said that “envy is so skinny and yellow because it bites and does not eat.” Considering such a harsh definition, it seems difficult to combine two words, healthy envy, when they could even seem antagonistic according to our famous writer.

However, you have surely heard on many occasions about pure envy. In this case we could refer to true hostility towards another person. However, healthy envy seems more benevolent, almost positive. But is this really so? Let’s try to unravel the mystery.

What do we mean by envy?

A fairly agreed upon definition of envy equates it to a form of greed. We could talk about a feeling that provokes in us the desire to have something that we do not possess., but that others do have. So, we openly consider that this something should be our yes or yes. If this is not the case, feelings of pain, even rage and anger, appear within us.

In psychological terms, this discomfort that is created is known as cognitive dissonance.. Inside us we experience an incongruence between how we believe things should be, according to our beliefs and schemas, and how they really are.

We consider that other people have something that they should not hoard, but it’s not like that. This creates an uncomfortable situation. We believe that we are victims of injustice and we must strive to “reclaim” what rightfully belongs to us.

In this sense, it is worth remembering how JA Marina and ML Pernas define the word envy in their Dictionary of feelings. According to the authors, the perception of another person’s good causes feelings of anger and discomfort. And so, This other person is considered guilty of said discomfort, even causing humiliation and misfortune..

So what is healthy envy?

Taking this panorama into account, what then is healthy envy? Does such a term really make sense? Can there really be a phenomenon of envy that does not cause pain, or produces less, or can even seem positive? A very specific study on the subject argues that in reality Yes, there are specific differences that allow us to establish a distinction between benign and malignant envy..

In this specific case, When envy is evil, greed appears in the middle. They are profiles that usually show a tendency to joy when they imagine that something negative happens to the person they are envious of.

However, those who truly feel healthy envy do not show this pattern. That is, they do not feel malice towards the other person, although this does not mean that what they have they do not want for themselves. That is why the point of view is considered to be more constructive from the prism of the envious.

So, is healthy envy good?

Actually, If you have to be envious, it better be healthy, but that doesn’t mean it’s good.. That is to say, it is true that it is less unpleasant than pure or evil, but that does not make it positive, unless it serves as an element of motivation or to identify a desire that until now we had not considered.

Healthy envy focuses on something we desire or long for. Thus, it could be related to a certain inability to analyze the global context. That is to say, in some way envy could hijack our attention, fixing it on what we lack instead of what we do have. The same reasons why others envy us or why we would envy others if we did not have them.

So, according to experts, We must contextualize each situation in its proper measure.. That is to say, we may feel envious of another person who has achieved great achievements, but we must also analyze that perhaps it was much easier for them to achieve those goals. That doesn’t mean that we are worse or that we can’t be there one day. It could also be that she tried harder.

Anyway, you see that as usually happens, everything depends on the prism from which you look at it. Is healthy envy good? At least it’s better than pure envy. On the other hand, It still has a motivating part, like any emotion, which, when properly directed, can give us enough energy to achieve our goals..

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