Mira silently stared at her smartphone.
Sora called out with concern. "Mira, are you okay?"
Mira shook her head. She wrote in her notebook. "Feeling jealous"
Leo showed interest. "Of whom?"
"A friend. Draws really well"
Sora asked gently, "How does that make you feel?"
Mira wrote. "Frustrated. Feel small"
Leo opened his notebook. "Jealousy is a very human emotion."
"But it's unpleasant," Mira wrote.
"Unpleasant maybe. But not evil," Sora said. "Jealousy contains important information."
Mira looked up.
Leo explained, "Jealousy tells you what you value."
"What do you mean?" Sora asked.
"Mira is jealous about art because art is important to her. You don't feel jealous about things you're not interested in."
Mira nodded slowly.
Sora supplemented, "Jealousy is a signal of desire. A message saying 'I want this' or 'I want to be like this.'"
"But what should I do?" Mira wrote.
Leo answered, "First, acknowledge the jealousy. Don't deny it."
"Acknowledge?"
"Don't self-criticize with 'feeling jealous makes me bad.' Observe with 'I'm feeling jealousy now.'"
Sora understood. "Separate yourself from the emotion."
"Yes. Don't identify with the emotion. Not 'I am jealousy' but 'I am feeling jealousy.'"
Mira wrote. "There's a difference?"
"A big difference," Leo explained. "The latter recognizes jealousy as a temporary state. The former assumes your entire self is jealousy."
Sora gave an example. "Like saying 'I am feeling anger' instead of 'I am anger.'"
Mira looked a bit relieved.
Leo continued, "Next, notice the trap of comparison."
"Trap of comparison?" Sora asked.
"Humans are comparative creatures. But comparison is always unfair."
"Why?"
"Because you compare your inside with others' outside. You don't see others' struggles. You only see their success."
Mira nodded.
Sora understood. "Like on social media, everyone seems happy."
"Exactly. Curated life. Only a part of reality."
Mira wrote. "So don't compare?"
"Stopping completely is hard," Leo admitted. "But you can change the direction of comparison."
"Direction?"
"From comparing with others to comparing with your past self."
Sora got it. "Hold the standard for measuring growth within yourself."
"Yes. Not 'am I better than that person' but 'am I better than yesterday's me.'"
Mira wrote in her notebook. "My own growth curve"
"Good expression," Leo smiled.
Sora offered another perspective. "Can jealousy be turned into motivation?"
"It can," Leo answered. "There's a concept called constructive jealousy."
"Constructive jealousy?"
"Jealousy that tries to pull yourself up, not pull the other down."
Mira's eyes lit up.
"Inspiration saying 'I want to be like that person.' Not destructive, but creative."
Sora asked, "How can it become constructive?"
"Change the question. Not 'why does that person succeed and I fail' but 'what can I learn from that person.'"
Mira wrote. "Learning opportunity"
"Yes. The object of jealousy is a potential teacher."
Sora understood. "Not an enemy, but a mentor."
Leo continued, "Another important thing is diversifying the sources of self-worth."
"Diversifying?"
"Don't measure yourself by just one thing. Mira's value isn't determined by art alone."
Mira thought.
Sora encouraged, "Mira, you have observation skills, you're kind, you have many talents."
"View self-worth multifacetedly," Leo said. "Being inferior in one area doesn't deny the whole."
Mira smiled slightly.
Sora asked, "Can jealousy be completely eliminated?"
"Difficult," Leo answered honestly. "But you can change your relationship with jealousy."
"Not dominated by jealousy, but observing it."
Mira wrote. "Befriend jealousy?"
"Interesting idea," Leo laughed. "If not friends, at least not treat it as an enemy."
Sora added, "Jealousy is an information source for knowing yourself."
Mira nodded slowly. She put down her smartphone.
"What will you do?" Sora asked.
Mira wrote. "Ask my friend how they draw"
Leo acknowledged, "That's a constructive approach."
"Jealousy became a trigger for growth," Sora smiled.
Mira stood up. Her expression had changed a bit.
"I'm going," Mira said. Unusually, with her voice.
As the two watched her off, Mira walked away. The dark emotion of jealousy was beginning to transform into small hope.
Emotions aren't enemies. They're messengers. How you receive that message is up to you.