Mantra with Jemma Sbeg: Episode Summary
Episode Title: I Tend to My Life With Gratitude, Not Envy
Host: Jemma Sbeg
Release Date: July 28, 2025
Introduction to This Week's Mantra
In the July 28, 2025 episode of Mantra with Jemma Sbeg, host Jemma introduces the week's guiding philosophy: "I tend to my life with gratitude, not envy." She emphasizes the transformative power of this mantra in navigating life's challenges and fostering personal growth. Jemma outlines the episode's structure, which includes unpacking the mantra's meaning, sharing personal experiences, and providing actionable steps through journal prompts and a weekly challenge.
Understanding Envy
[03:57] Jemma delves deep into the emotion of envy, reframing it as a neutral signal rather than a negative trait. She explains, "Envy is just a message... that we are unhappy in some secret way that we haven't quite figured out yet." Rather than viewing envy as inherently bad, Jemma suggests it serves as an indicator of unmet desires or dissatisfaction in our own lives.
She further explores how modern society, particularly through "hustle culture" and social media, exacerbates feelings of envy. The curated highlight reels we see online often lead us to believe others have perfect lives, causing us to undervalue our own experiences and achievements.
The Role of Gratitude
[06:45] Gratitude emerges as the antidote to envy. Jemma shares her initial skepticism toward practicing gratitude, admitting, "Sometimes [gratitude] sounds like utter garbage." However, after trying gratitude exercises during therapy, she found significant improvement: "It actually worked. They were right all along."
Gratitude acts as "emotional armor," protecting us from negative emotions like despair, disappointment, and particularly envy. By focusing on what we have, we shift our mindset from scarcity to abundance, reducing the sting of comparison.
Practical Strategies to Cultivate Gratitude
Jemma outlines several strategies to foster a gratitude-oriented mindset:
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Slowing Down: In our fast-paced lives, we often overlook the small, meaningful aspects of our daily experiences. Creating moments of stillness—through solitude, nature walks, or journaling—allows us to notice and appreciate these "quiet abundances."
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Practicing Curiosity Over Judgment: Instead of immediately reacting to feelings of envy or dissatisfaction, Jemma encourages asking ourselves meaningful questions:
- What am I already grateful for?
- Is the life I'm envious of truly what I desire?
This inquisitive approach helps uncover the underlying needs driving our envy.
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Redefining Abundance: Jemma suggests personalizing the concept of abundance beyond societal standards. By acknowledging what we truly need and appreciating the "small, ordinary ways" we already experience abundance, we anchor our sense of fulfillment internally.
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Attention Management: "Where your attention goes, that's what's going to grow," Jemma notes. By consciously directing our focus toward gratitude rather than comparison, we cultivate a healthier, more contented mindset.
Personal Reflections and Experiences
[19:16] Jemma shares her personal journey with envy, particularly in her friendships and career. She admits feeling inadequate compared to the "perfect" friendship groups depicted in media and struggled with insecurity in her highly visible podcasting industry. This led to constant feelings of not being "good enough" and a relentless pursuit of others' standards.
To combat this, Jemma embarked on a 30-day gratitude challenge:
- Daily Practice: Each night, she wrote down five things she was grateful for and journaled two pages about them.
- Commitment: Missing a day meant restarting the challenge, ensuring full dedication.
The results were transformative. Although challenging and at times frustrating, the practice lightened her mental load and improved her overall mindset. While gratitude hasn't eradicated envy entirely, it has provided her with a foundation to understand and redirect her feelings productively.
Notable Quote
Theodore Roosevelt:
"Comparison is the thief of joy."
[30:30]
Jemma highlights this timeless wisdom to illustrate how comparing ourselves to others disrupts our ability to experience genuine happiness and contentment in our own lives.
Journal Prompts and Weekly Challenge
To help listeners integrate the mantra into their lives, Jemma offers tailored journal prompts:
- Neglected Areas: What areas of your life have you been neglecting or overlooking simply because they don't look like someone else's version of success?
- Unexpected Gratitude: When you slow down and pay attention to your life as it is right now, what small details bring you unexpected gratitude?
- Emotional Environment: Looking ahead, what kind of emotional environment do you want to live in, and what will it take to start creating that one grateful decision at a time?
Additionally, the Scroll Swap Challenge encourages listeners to replace moments of comparison during social media use with expressions of gratitude:
- Action Step: Whenever you catch yourself mindlessly scrolling and feeling envious, pause the app and write down one thing you're grateful for in your life.
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
In wrapping up, Jemma acknowledges that cultivating gratitude over envy is an ongoing journey. She reminds listeners that experiencing envy doesn't make them bad; it's a human response that can be redirected through intentional practice. By focusing on gratitude, individuals can foster an internal sense of worth and contentment, diminishing the influence of comparison.
Jemma encourages continual self-awareness and dedication to the practices discussed, emphasizing that "tending to your life with gratitude isn't about ignoring what you want. It isn't about settling for something. It's simply about honoring what you already have."
Final Takeaway: Embracing gratitude over envy transforms our internal landscape, enabling us to appreciate our unique journeys and foster genuine happiness.
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