Ways to deal with jealousy

When you feel jealous, a part of you knows the feeling and understands its petty nature, but still you cling to it. Amrit Sadhana tells how one can be free of this draining emotion.

Jealousy can be a draining emotion. Even though it creates misery, people cling to it because jealousy is considered to be a sign of deep love. Lack of jealousy is often misinterpreted as lack of love by the other person. Jealousy is often just a twinge, a passing thought and that is quite normal and everyone experiences it to some degree. However there are some for whom it can become an obsession and threaten their own sanity and relationships.

The best part is that inherently you will know a moment of superfluous jealousy for what it is; a part of you subconsciously knows and understands that this emotion rising in you is petty and does not reflect a loss of emotional unity in your relationship. But still you will feel tempted to revel in it, to let it engulf you. It’s a matter of knowing yourself and rising above emotions which you know do not warrant your mindspace.



To understand jealousy it is important to delve into and reexamine your conception of love. Osho talks about a fool-proof remedy that can help you drop jealousy and other petty feelings.

Said Osho: “Go deeper into your feelings. Don’t avoid them. But remember one thing: jealousy and insecurity are separate from you. You are the witness; as you go deeper, you will come across many things which you have suppressed; but you are as pure as a mirror. When you are going deeper, the mirror reflects jealousy, but the mirror is not jealousy. Just as the mirror reflects buffalo standing in front, it reflects your feelings. The mirror is not identified with anything that it reflects — the mirror is just empty, silent, and clean.

“In meditation you will come to recognize you are the mirror. All other things are reflected in you. A mirror is just a reflecting phenomenon; so are you. Be a mirror, and then all these problems, whatever their names, will start disappearing — they are only reflections. You need not try to get rid of them. The very idea of getting free of them still accepts that they are realities of your being.”

Credits: Times Wellness