Free Yourself of Envy and Malice, It Could Kill You

Free Yourself of Envy and Malice, It Could Kill You
By Rita Langley
Our physical well-being goes way beyond just working out and eating right. Temperament is another major factor that has a great impact on a person's physical health.
Garnering negative emotions like envy and malice, make you a subject of a bad behavioral phenomenon. This not only isolates you from the social circle but it takes a huge toll on your physical health as well.
When your heart is filled with peace, it enriches your body. But contradictory to this, envy is so poisonous that it could even rot your bones.
How is this possible?
Though the fact that envy can be so lethal sounds puzzling, it is true. When you give room for negative thoughts like envy, the first target is your body language that is affected. Now speaking of body language, you feel tensed physically and emotionally, which in turn is reflected through the way you present yourself. As goes the saying that your face is the index of your mind, your body reacts each time you feel loaded with envy and bad thoughts of that sorts. This eventually causes pain, muscle spasms, and early wear and tear of the joints.
All of this starts when you compare yourself to others and judge yourself in various categories that are important according to you. If you win, you feel superior or else you feel dejected and inferior to others. This makes you insecure, stressed out and anxious, which in turn affects your posture.
In a study, computer-generated mannequin figures were used to assess the potency of body posture. This was to discern the real attention people place on posture when they experience negative emotions. The neutral posture was created by placing the arms straight down to the sides with an upright stance. The happy posture depicted the mannequin as having the arms stretched up toward the sky, the torso arched backward, and the knees bent. The angry posture was depicted as having taken one stride forward, the chin jutted forward and the arms thrust backward as if charging. The portrayed emotions by the posture that they settled on were rated by participants at over 90% accuracy. In other words, most people agreed that the models accurately depicted the emotions they were meant to.
If humorous emoticons are capable of speaking for your feelings, imagine the way your body language can change instantly when you feel high or low.
In addition to affecting your posture, negative thoughts like envy and malice cause chemical stress in your body by increasing the levels of stress hormones namely adrenaline and cortisol. This drastically affects your nervous, respiratory, cardiovascular and digestive systems, which could drastically reduce your normal life expectancy if left untreated.
The remedy
The best way to overcome envy and malice is to get down to the root cause of these traits. The causes could be anything like discontent, comparison to others, pride, low self-esteem, or a desire for worldly gain.
If any of these conditions persist in your mind, then they are more likely to be manifested through the way you treat yourself and others. It could be expressions like being highly self-critical and judgmental of others, competition in relationships, idolizing others, and lack of contentment.
Action plan
1. Accept
The first step is, to be honest, and admit that you indeed experience envy and malice.
2. Develop
Develop an attitude of gratitude. Be thankful for all the good things that you are blessed with.
3. Focus
Focus only on those things that reflect the beauty of your life. Limit your focus on anything that speaks of mere material gain.
4. Admire
When you find yourself envying another person's positive qualities, try to cultivate such qualities in you instead of feeling jealous. If not admire those qualities.
5. Grow
Make a plan to develop your talents and positive qualities.
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