Envy: the carrot of malnourishment

I live in a city of gorgeous men. Like the flowers in my neighborhood I look at them with admiration ... but sometimes that admiration turns into envy and I want what they have ... but a diet of envy feels like dining on TV dinners, tasty (easy too), but that's my nourishment? Envy is like Gollum with The Ring: an insatiable thirst impossible to quench ... the problem isn't the thing itself ... it's in the wanting.*

"Riding sidesaddle with envy is a dangerous practice: I would be happy if I had what he or she possesses. By contrast, giving thanks constantly and in all circumstances liberates us from envy." - Edward Hays from The Great Escape Manual

* These are Buddhist teachings I'm regurgitating, I take no credit for thinking them up!