Seeing material goods or advantages of others can cause us to feel wistful. When this happens, we can look inside. By identifying our desired feelings of satisfaction, we can determine how we can generate those feelings for ourselves, in our own unique ways.
photo by 101dalmatians
When I focus on this approach, it makes it easy for me to be happy for someone else's good fortune. Their enjoyment can be the impetus for me to pursue more vigorously the experiences or things I want for myself.
Sometimes it seems that others are encouraging us to feel envious or jealous. Why might they do this? While we can't really know the motivations of others, there is always a reason for what people do. Maybe a lack of love or acceptance has created feelings of inadequacy in them, and they are trying to compensate by inflating their perceived worth with self-determined status symbols.
Instead of reacting (and buying in) to attempts to create an uncomfortable feeling in us, perhaps we can choose to open our hearts, and regard those around us with compassion.
We can also be aware that if we inspire feelings of envy in others, our deep warm connections can be limited. At our core, all of us want to be close. None of us needs to let feelings of envy or jealousy get in the way.