“Some are born with a gold spoon and others with a copper spoon.”

It does not matter what the colour or  the value of your spoon is when you embark on the egg-and-spoon-race of life. We all have our own life path, our own challenges, our own starting points, each with our own different interests and different life situations. And yet, we pay way too much attention to what we are lacking and what others already have. 

The mind is funny that way; it constantly pays attention to things we do not yet have, what we still lack, what others have, but we don’t, and we think we might want. Magazines, adverts, the internet and social media are full of content creating impossibly high standards, showing us what we are missing, what we should have and should want. Since the mind likes to emphasise our shortcomings to us, we begin to feel that we are insufficient and our life is lacking. The feeling of missing out may motivate us to act, but in the long run, it will consume our strength, when we believe our cup is half empty.

What if we peeked into the cup and found that it was half full? What good can be found in our lives right now? What have we already achieved? What have been our achievements on this journey of our own life? What can we be thankful for? What is wonderful? What would we envy about ourselves if we looked at ourselves through the eyes of others?

When you begin to catch yourself when you get lost down the rabbit hole of comparing yourself to others, you start the process of change. When you become aware of the thought patterns that lead you to feel incomplete, incompetent and insufficient, you can begin steer your mind away from those dark alleyways of the mind.

When you become aware of the comparative mind, you can begin to observe how it affects your emotions, how you experience life and how you feel about yourself. When you change the narrative in your mind from comparison to appreciation of your own strengths and your own life path, with its unique twists and turns, it brings tremendous power to your life.

When your mind remains stuck in comparison-mode, you will never be satisfied. If your mind is not taught out of the endless rat race of comparison; whenever a goal is fulfilled, it is immediately replaced with a new goal, and then another, and another, endlessly. There will always be someone who is slimmer, younger, more muscular, more professional, better. The comparative mind always finds a way to see a half-empty cup that needs to be filled in order to be happy.  Remind yourself often of this fact: each and everyone of us has our own path in life. Everyone has their own challenges, their own pains, and their own attempts to become happy.

And yet: when we stop comparing, we may realise how happy and lucky we are – in our own lives, just as it is. Just as we are.