• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to footer

Greta Boris

Stories of Domestic Suspense

  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT ME
    • EVENT CALENDAR
    • SPEAKING
    • FOR WRITERS
      • Home
  • READER COMMUNITY
    • EARLY REVIEW TEAM
    • SHARE THE LOVE
  • NEWS & VIEWS
  • FREE STUFF

Envy

The Evil Eye of Envy

Posted by Greta Boris Leave a Comment

Don’t write about sin if you don’t want to become aware of your own shortsightedness.

When I wrote about sloth I fell asleep a lot. When I wrote about wrath, I had to forgive all the people I’d been holding stuff against. I won’t tell you what happened when I wrote about lust.

I believe we all have our own BS or besetting sin.

This is our default weakness. It’s the one we descend into when times are rough, and often when they’re not. Envy is mine. I’m not saying I never experience the other negative personality traits. I am saying envy is the one that trips me up the most often.

Envy is punished in Dante’s Divine Comedy by stitching up the eyes of the envious.

In the Middle Ages envy was associated with witchcraft and curses. It comes from the Latin “invidia” which means to look on someone with hostility. All this is wonderful fodder for a story about murder, but not so wonderful for life.

What the professionals say:

According to studies done at Texas Christian University, envy increases memory and cognitive function. A good thing? Apparently not. The only thing the subjects were sharper about were the objects of their envy.

Some argue envy is positive because it challenges us to reach higher and be better. But another in the same group of studies showed that envy decreased subjects’ abilities to complete an unrelated, challenging mental task. This was blamed on something psychologists call “ego depletion.” 

Ego depletion is the idea that we only have so much self-control to go around. If we expend a lot of energy fighting the nasty emotions associated with envy, we won’t have as much persistence with other things.

Not only that, but envy is a downer.

It engenders feelings of depression, hostility, and painful inferiority. These emotions have an impact on both our physical and physiological health. Have you ever tried to accomplish anything constructive when you were feeling inferior or depressed?

Lest you think envy is somehow a higher emotion and, at least, proves our intelligence, apes and monkeys can be envious. One poor man lost his nose, his foot, and a testicle all because he brought a birthday cake to a chimp and the other chimps got jealous. Unfettered envy is violent.

Hope you’ll join me for this romp down the dark alley of envy.

But read at your own risk! The Color of Envy is the darkest sin yet.

Filed Under: The Writer's Life Tagged With: #amreading, #amwriting, #the7deadlysins, #thecolorofenvy, #thewriterslife, #writingcommunity, Envy

3 Signs Materialism May be Affecting Your Happiness

Posted by Greta Boris Leave a Comment

materialismAccording to the Mayo Clinic,  3 early signs of hoarding are: 

  1. Acquiring things you don’t need and have no space for
  2. Difficulty throwing things away
  3. Clutter

 

Although most of us aren’t in danger of becoming hoarders in the clinical sense of the word, how many of us shrank a little when we read those symptoms? What can we do about it?

[Read more…] about 3 Signs Materialism May be Affecting Your Happiness

Filed Under: The Healthy Life Tagged With: #7DeadlySins, #envyandcontentment, Envy, happiness, hoarders, hoarding, materialism

The Real Secret of Success

Posted by Greta Boris Leave a Comment

secretI love to write about people and tell their stories. 

I’ve lost count of how many wonderful folks I’ve interviewed. There was:

* Anne Hjelle’s story of bravery when recovering from a mountain lion attack.

* The strength of RobinSickles who ran a triathlon with the picture of her murdered son on her back.

* Misty Shaffer who found her secret to weight loss was loyalty and lost 100 pounds!

That’s just a smattering of the articles I’ve written. 

If I caved in to my more base nature, I might be envious of these women.

After all they are beautiful, strong, courageous – all the things I want to be and often don’t feel I am. My natural reaction is to look the other way when I see someone more successful than myself – or worse – to nit-pick them. 

But, I’ve learned a secret. 

[Read more…] about The Real Secret of Success

Filed Under: The Inspired Life Tagged With: #7DeadlySins, #envyandcontentment, #secret, Anne Hjelle, Brenda Bazon, Envy, Misty Shaffer, MoolaHoop, relationship marketing, Robin Sickles, Scout Bassett, social media

How Safe are Your Children from Human Trafficking?

Posted by Greta Boris 1 Comment

human traffickingWarning: This post is one of the most important I’ve ever featured, but it isn’t the easiest to read.

My friend and anti-human trafficking advocate, Deirdre Flynn, interviewed Holly Smith, a survivor and author, about her experience as a victim of the sex industry. The story is below. 

Some of you may be wondering why I would include an article on human trafficking in my 7 Deadly Sins series under the topic of envy.

Envy is often what makes our children vulnerable to predators. Pimps and slavers promote discontent. They fill immature minds with dreams of the exciting and glamorous life others are living. A life that has been out of reach for the child, until now.

[Read more…] about How Safe are Your Children from Human Trafficking?

Filed Under: The Inspired Life, The Writer's Life Tagged With: #envyandcontentment, #humantrafficking, Deirdre Flynn, Envy, Holly Smith, Sex trafficking, slavery

Giraffes, Orphans, Pianos, and Trucks | Ambre Hammond

Posted by Greta Boris Leave a Comment

Ambre HammondA lovely girl perches on the edge of a piano bench. She pulls herself closer to a black baby grand that sits under a cloudless, cerulean sky.

She lifts her hands. A giraffe stops and cranes a graceful neck toward her. There is no orchestra tuning around her. The only sound is the buzz and click of insect wings.

A group of dark skinned children hold their breath in anticipation. When her hands fall, the Serengeti Plains come alive with the strains of Debussy. The giraffe lopes away. The children rise and dance, their white teeth flashing with laughter.

This is Ambre Hammond’s dream.

[Read more…] about Giraffes, Orphans, Pianos, and Trucks | Ambre Hammond

Filed Under: The Inspired Life Tagged With: #7DeadlySins, #envyandcontentment, #inspiration, Ambre Hammond, contentment, Envy, Girl Piano Truck, music

Envy

Posted by Greta Boris Leave a Comment

EnvySince I decided to cover the 7 Deadly Sins and their Angelic Counterparts, I’ve realized some will be easier to write about for 7 weeks about than others. Lust and love, for instance, were a piece of cheesecake.

Envy is the next one up and I’ve spent an entire week trying to figure out what its opposite is. I toyed with philanthropy, since envy does have an element of selfishness to it. But, philanthropy is closely related to generosity and that is greed’s angelic counterpart.

So, I did a little research on the topic and found out a number of surprising things.

[Read more…] about Envy

Filed Under: The Writer's Life Tagged With: #7DeadlySins, #envyandcontentment, 7 deadly sins, Envy, happier life, happiness, insecurity

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

Footer

Follow Us!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on Twitter

Copyright © 2021 · Author Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in