In our daily interaction with others, we’re either consciously or subconsciously judging one another. Our looks, our demeanour, our abilities, our intelligence, our possessions, how happy we are. It’s a survival instinct I suppose, when knowing how competent the other players are gives you clues about how to play the game
However, this becomes self-defeating when we begin to compare ourselves with others. When we do this, we give away a small part of our uniqueness, taking away from out own gifts and talents.
No other person has our unique qualities. No one else has ever gone through the exact same circumstances or has had the precise physical characteristics or thoughts we have.
It is when we are envious of others and what they possess that we do the greatest damage to ourselves. If we only knew what their thoughts were and what they had gone through to achieve their success it is unlikely we would want anything to do with it.
Wise persons of ages have stated that if all people in the whole would were to dump their problems in one pile and we were to go through that pile, we would be extremely happy to settle for our own problems.
We just don’t know what the other person feels until we have been in his shoes. What does he think and why does he think that way? What circumstances has he been through? What obstacles has he had to over to achieve whatever it is that he has achieved?
When we can truthfully answer those questions we can know how the other person feels and what has been required of him. The one thing we can know is our own thoughts and feelings, the circumstances we have allowed to bring us to our current position in life, and the choices we have made to bring us to where we are.
This allows us to honour others without comparing ourselves to them.
