Monday Musings is a weekly short blog post meant to get us thinking. Not a bad way to start the work week.

Recent events have made me think about our obsession with comparisons. A lot of people I work with and talk to seem to care a lot about being “better”. Better than their peers, better than their parents, better than their siblings, better than Will Smith.

The anger management coachees and I came to the conclusion that we’re no better than other people, especially during moments of weakness. We’re just human, we’re not better or worse than anybody else.

Tomo Fujita, John Mayer’s guitar teacher, always says “Don’t compare and be kind to yourself.” Whenever we compare ourselves to others, we will always be superior to some and inferior to others. What’s the point of comparing? Is there any psychic reward for being “better”?

Humility, empathy, compassion, and kindness. We could use a lot more of that in the world.