It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered.
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was a cool guy, and not just because his name starts with the first two vowels in the English language. And what he had to say on the subject of envy shows just how little people have changed over the centuries (or millenia, for that matter).
This quote really rings true, doesn't it? At some deep level we really seem to want our friends to do well as long as they don't do quite as well as ourselves. Uncomfortable but, I think, largely true.
If a friend does well – great! Be happy for him, her, or it (that's for my alien readers). That's what I've been training myself to do. And I think it's a potent way to help avoid the "I'm doing well but I'm still not happy syndrome." Here's why.
In my unbelievably humble opinion, giving in to this bit of envy works to undermine your own happiness. Your friend in finance gets a raise and suddenly you want to know how much they're making and wonder if you're making less. You're just as smart, right? And then that new guy gets some perk that you're not getting. Why not? How can you be happy for him when you're getting screwed? Slowly this approach becomes a part of life – being worried and unhappy that you're maybe not getting all you're deserving of. I know that LOTS of the people I work with fret over this kind of thing constantly and really push down their overall level of contentment.
I'm not sayin' you can't look out for number one, but I am thinkin' that overdoing it can be counterproductive to a happy outlook. My take now is – if someone gets a bit of good fortune – good for them. As long as I'm happy with what I'm getting and where I'm at, why should it bother me? So it doesn't. Most of the time 
How about you?
