This seemingly endless pandemic is certainly not doing any favours to anyone's mental health.

What makes a person? What underlying traits define our identities? Why do so many identities overlap with each other? How do we form relationships with other people? What are different frameworks with which to handle those relationships?

2020-01-01 08:48

Back in the spring, I started a series of posts on jealousy, and briefly touched on the difference between jealousy and envy. I kind of want to expand on that, because while jealousy is talked about a LOT in the various relationship communities, envy is far less discussed. I think that's a problem. So first off, jealousy has it's root in fear. Fear that your connection with someone will be loosened or broken by their connection with someone else. It's explicitly about connections you already have. Envy on the other hand I think is more rooted in self doubt and feelings of inadequacy. In a relationship context, it's when you see people with connections that you don't have, and really wish you did. The people you are envious of might be your own partner(s), or maybe friends, acquaintances, or even strangers that just remind you of "what you are missing". That's the real danger of envy, it so fills you with feelings of self-criticism that it can blind you to all the good in your life. I'll expand on this subject further in a later post. Right after I spend several hours/days reading similar posts written by people far more eloquent than I and wishing I had that writing ability...

So, before we can explore the toxic topic of "jealousy as a virtue", I guess we need to get a firm grasp of jealousy as a concept.

Okay, and now for some diversion from the usual topics of psychology. You must be asking yourself, what does magic have to do with psychology? Well lots. But the magic in this section has nothing to do with the metaphysical kind of magic. No, the magic I'm talking about is how you see the world. What? What do you mean magic? What does that have to do with seeing the world? Well that's the common response from most grown-ups because they have lost the magic and view their lives as just something that happens.

Normal? What's that? Normal is a setting on your drier. There is no such thing as normal when it comes to people. Everyone is normal to themselves because everyone is unique. Difference is the only thing we all have in common, and it is that difference that makes us all unique.

Disorders? What disorders are you talking about? You know the ones that people are always focusing on. Multiple personalities, schizophrenia, attention deficiet disorder, depression, etc. What would a 19 year old know about those? Well as much as experience can tell me.

What is there to know about the mind you may ask. I thought that it was just a bunch of neurons and stuff all glued together inside your skull.