Alchemize Jealousy into Creative Action

Week 7, Day 6 of The Artist's Way

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Today, let's befriend jealousy as fuel for inspired creative action.

JEALOUSY

Jealousy, I’ve often heard, is a normal human emotion.

When I hear that, I think, “Maybe your jealousy—not mine.”

My jealousy roars in the head, tightens the chest, and massages my stomach lining with a cold fist as it searches out the best grip. I have long regarded jealousy as my greatest weakness. Only recently have I seen it for the tough-love friend that it is.

Jealousy is a map.

Each of our jealousy maps differs. Each of us will probably be surprised by some of the things we discover on our own. I, for example, have never been eaten alive with resentment over the success of women novelists. But I took an unhealthy interest in the fortunes and misfortunes of women playwrights. I was their harshest critic, until I wrote my first play.

With that action, my jealousy vanished, replaced by a feeling of camaraderie. My jealousy had actually been a mask for my fear of doing something I really wanted to do but was not yet brave enough to take action toward.

(The Artist's Way, 2016, p. 123)

I let jealousy show me what I value and where I can take inspired action.

download printable affirmation card

Make this phrase a mantra:

Treating myself like a precious object will make me strong.

✨👇

Watercolor or crayon or calligraph this phrase. Post it where you will see it daily. We tend to think being hard on ourselves will make us strong. But it is cherishing ourselves that gives us strength.

“Jealousy is bred in doubts. When those doubts change into certainties, then the passion either ceases or turns absolute madness.”

– François de La Rochefoucauld

What is one way jealousy has shown you what you value?

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