How comparison becomes the thief of our joy?

First let us see how comparison kills our individuality.

Every individual has his/her unique skills and unique nature. To identify the unique skills to nourish them and also to identify one’s inner self will lead to developing one’s own passions and unique life journey to experience the joy of living.

Comparison distracts the individual to focus on comparing with others to enter into a kind of ego battle, chasing a mirage, and  killing one’s individuality to lead unique life to experience the joy of living.

                       

        How comparison limits our potential?

One’s potential depends on one’s unique skills and unique nature. When one’s life is trapped in the comparison, there could be no scope to nourish the skills, passion, and the corresponding joy of living. Like a caged bird, an individual ‘caged’ in the comparison is deprived to experience the ‘sky’ of his/her passions, with the wings of his/her unique skills.

       

    Comparison and the Shelter of the negative feelings

How comparison forces us to become the shelter of the negative feelings like envy, jealousy, frustration, anger, etc?

There will always be persons above us with respect to the objects (wealth, status, achievement, etc) of comparison. 

A person drowned in comparison, while interacting with another person, will use all his mental faculties first to judge if the other person is, in terms of the object of comparison, on par or above or below him/her. 

The person will behave in subservient manner to the above persons to enhance the social network for achieving more in comparison, and superior to the below to display his/her achievements. In the case of on par persons, he/she will try by all means to prove that the other person was inferior to him/her in terms of the object of comparison.

No wonder the above process will subject the person to experience jealous, envy, frustration, disappointment, anger – all kinds of negative feelings.

Can there be any doubt, as to how comparison becomes the thief of our joy?

Note: 

The individual, ‘caged’ in comparison, will infect the other members in his/her

family and friends.                             

The family and friends, ‘caged’ in comparison, will infect the families in their

social circle.
The education system, ‘caged’ in comparison, will infect the students and their

families.

After some time, the society, consisting of more such families, will be ‘caged’ in comparison, denying the experience of the ‘sky’ of human passions, with the wings of the human unique skills, and depriving creativity and originality.

Imitation, a result of comparison, will dominate in music, dance and other arts.

All individuals with the desire to experience the ‘sky’ of human passions, needs to tactfully distance themselves from the infected persons, to avoid being infected and ‘caged’.in 'comparison'.