If you want to enjoy to the fullest all the many goods things in life, avoid making comparisons. Comparisons can lead you to devalue, needlessly, what you have.
Bertrand Russell captured this process well in his engaging and useful book, The Conquest of Happiness
The person thinking in comparative terms says,
"Yes....this is a sunny day, and it is springtime, and the birds are singing, and the flowers are in bloom, but I understand that the springtime in Sicily is a thousand times more beautiful, that the birds sing more exquisitely in the groves of Helicon, and that the rose of Sharon is more lovely than any in my garden.' And as he thinks these thoughts the sun is dimmed, and the birds' song becomes a meaningless twitter, and the flowers seem not worth a moment's regard. (p. 88)"
Russell viewed this is a "fatal" habit, both "pointless and foolish," ruinous in its effects on a person's capacity to enjoy life.
Contemporary findings in psychology, especially the work on the powerful effects of gratitude
on happiness, support Russell's observations. Grateful people are usually happy people. Envious people are often unhappy.
And so, avoid comparisons. You will probably discover that many things in life create pleasure rather than disappointment -- from the delights found in your backyard, the vintage of wine in your wine glass, to the features you see in the person with whom you are most intimate.
When you look back at the road sign marking the path you have travelled, it might just read: HAPPINESS.
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