Happiness Level Two – Winning
Because Happiness Level Two is about ego satisfaction it tends to be comparative. Winning, status, achievement, prestige and popularity naturally deliver short-term happiness. Conversely, losing, failure, and unpopularity cause unhappiness. Therefore we can easily fall into the Comparison Game, measuring our successes relative to others. We need to be vigilant because healthy Level Two easily defaults into an unhealthy pursuit of short-term jolts of happiness through having more, achieving more, and being better than everyone else.
Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity.
– James 3:16-17
PRAYER:
O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, Jesus.
Excerpt from the Litany of Humility by Cardinal Merry del Val