Hey,
Thank you for being here.
If you're listening to this,
Something inside you has been burning quiet.
Maybe envy.
Maybe that silent sting that whispers,
Why not me?
You're not wrong for feeling that.
Tonight,
We're not here to shame the feeling,
To bless it before it hardens.
This is a sit for comparison.
For that ache of not enough that hides under strong smiles and quiet scrolling nights.
We'll breathe,
Feel,
And learn how to let gratitude move through the body again.
Sit how you can.
Breathe easy.
Tall,
But not stiff.
Let the face soften.
Breathe with me in through the nose for four.
Out through the mouth for six.
Slow and clean.
Again in four.
Six.
Let the body loosen.
Out six.
Release today.
I remember being a kid with nothing.
Watching people with things I couldn't touch.
New cars.
New peace.
In the 90s,
Everyone had something glowing in their hands.
Toys,
Games,
Noise.
I had silence.
I grew up in adoption homes.
I didn't own much of anything.
Some nights I'd hear footsteps in the hall,
People coming to visit.
We'd all sit up straight,
Hoping maybe it was our turn.
Our turn to belong.
That's what envy felt like then,
Not greed.
But wanting to be chosen.
Out six.
Let the air move through the ache.
Where do you feel that ache right now?
Chest?
Throat?
Stomach?
Place a hand there.
Right where the wanting lives.
Catch the story that says,
They have what I never will.
Notice it.
Breathe it once.
And let it pass like a cloud.
Step two.
Bring to mind someone who's doing well.
A friend.
A stranger.
Online.
Anyone.
Now name one thing that's already good in your life.
Something real.
A person.
A skill.
A small piece you've earned.
Let gratitude rise in that same place envy used to live.
Step four.
Out six.
Was that,
If thoughts come,
I should be further by now.
I'll never catch up,
Just nod to them.
There goes from an old system that taught you to measure worth instead of feel it.
Let them fade.
If tears come,
Let them.
If the body tightens,
Let it loosen on the next exhale.
That's not weakness,
That's release.
Let the breath find its own rhythm.
Let gratitude start doing what envy never could heal you from the inside out.
Was that,
Science says,
Gratitude and envy can't breathe in the same room.
When you bless another's wind,
Your brain rewires,
Rewards circuits,
Calm,
Compassion lights up.
Dharma says the cure for envy is mudita joy,
For other's joy.
Every time you whisper good for them,
You burn a little illusion away.
And the heart grows lighter.
Was that,
Say this with me,
Under your breath.
I can bless what I see.
I can celebrate without shrinking.
Was this,
When envy comes,
I will stop.
I will choose blessing over burning.
Next time we'll walk into fear,
The flame that hides behind hesitation.
What you just practiced,
This is how fire becomes light.
Stillness is rebellion.
Peace is within.
Compassion is a weapon.
