“To better yourself - to be better, prettier, thinner, richer, more popular than the person next to you, is a myth they use to sell toasters. We have this myth that if I attain something my neighbor doesn’t have than I’ll be better, and if they attain something I don’t have then I’m worse.
But there’s always a place for things. Maybe your eyes are lower than the eyebrows, but they can see. The misconception that not everything has its place is what stops sympathetic joy from arising, and only hurts you.” - Emily Eslami
Emily Eslami gives us a Zen take on sympathetic joy. With readings from Dogen, Sawaki, the Pali Canon and more she takes us through on honest and vulnerable look at the difficulty of taking selfless joy in the successes of others, even when that seems really hard to do…