Envy is quiet. It rarely shouts like anger. It sits in the stomach and watches.

You can feel it when a friend shares good news and something in you sinks a little before you smile. You can feel it scrolling through other people’s holidays, homes and happy children. It is there when you hear of someone’s success and your first thought is that they did not really deserve it.

The books say that much of the world runs on envy. Whole industries depend on making you feel that someone else has what you lack. Envy drives people to buy, to compete and to climb. It is never satisfied, because there is always someone further ahead.

Envy has a hidden cost. While you watch another life, you are not living yours. The attention you give to what they have is attention taken from what is in front of you.

There is a useful clue inside envy, if you look honestly. Sometimes it points to something you truly want and have not dared to go after. When that is so, the envy can be let go and the wish kept. More often it points to nothing at all, only to the habit of comparing.

Either way, the answer is the same: see it, name it, and come back to your own life.