Envy doesn’t even sound like fun to me. Some of the other 7 Deadly sins like gluttony, greed, pride, lust, and sloth at least have the lure of promising pleasure and fun. At the start, that is, before the life-sucking consequences set in.

But envy just sounds miserable from the start.

And then there are the problems that come from living out our envy.

3 Common Ways We Deal with Envy

1. To make ourselves feel better we attempt to be superior to others.  We create grandiose ideas about ourselves and we express self-idealization and vanity. We try to be independent from the need of anyone’s help.
2. We become invidious. That means we act in a way that makes the other person envious of us. We attempt to spread the spirit of envy.  
3. We spoil and devalue the object of our envy.

Remember the Grinch? He choose #3. He was green with envy and made a valiant attempt to spoil, devalue the Whos’ Christmas. 

How did the Grinch escape the deadly grip of envy? His heart grew. 

How do we grow a heart that overcomes envy?

According to researchers on the topic of envy, the antidote to envy is gratitude.

The antidote for envy is gratitude.

Studies find a direct connection between levels of gratitude and levels of envy.

The more gratitude we have, the less envy we feel.

Why? 

There is a relationship between gratitude and envy. We usually envy something that we think will bring us gratification.

When we choose the emotion of gratitude it has the effect of lessening the emotion of envy.

And that’s not all gratitude is good for.

Gratitude

When we choose to practice gratitude it:

• Boosts our happiness 
• Strengthens our immune system
• Acts as a natural painkiller
• Promotes healthy relationships
• Improves our performance in school and at work
• Increases our resilience 
• Helps us sleep better
• Lowers depression

Practicing gratitude lessens toxic emotions like envy and cynicism. And gratitude is a partial remedy for narcissism.

Gratitude is good for us in so many ways it seems like a magic elixir of well-being. If you are looking for one well-being practice to put into your life, gratitude would be a good choice.

Lent 2022: Counteracting the 7 Deadly Sins with 7 Life-giving Virtues

Week #4

Deadly Sin: Envy

Life-giving Virtue: Gratitude

Two of the ways to practice gratitude that have shown excellent results in research studies are journaling and letter writing. Researchers note that the simple act of expressing the positive language of gratitude seems to shift our focus away from toxic emotions, such envy.  

When study participants wrote 3 gratitude letters in 3 weeks the positive effects were still detected up to 12 weeks later.  Long-lasting results for just 3 gratitude letters. 

Warning Label: Gratitude practices can also be like a slow-acting medicine. Researchers noted that the positive results were not as noticeable in the first week. So we are encouraged to keep at our gratitude practice for more than a week. 

I invite you to join me this week in practicing gratitude by writing.

Soul Sculpting Project: Gratitude, The Antidote for Envy

Write about what you are grateful for.

Choices:

• Letter
• List
• Journal 

Tips from Psychology:

1.  If you want to develop this into a habit, find a trigger to connect with that act of writing. 

Daily trigger ideas: 

• When I get into bed (getting into bed is the trigger) I write down what I am thankful for.
• When I sit down for lunch I write a gratitude note.

Weekly Trigger ideas: 

• Every Sunday morning (Sunday Morning is the trigger) I write a gratitude letter.
• When I get home from a weekly class I make a list of 3 gratitudes.

2. Make the writing materials very handy.

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him . . . overflowing with gratitude. Col. 2:7

My gratitude for the many gratitude researchers and writers. Here are a few: 

Robert Emmons Ph.D UC Davis; Yidi Mao, Yanhui Xiang, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Joshua Brown, Ph.D., Joel Wong, Ph.D.,Indiana University.