# 5 Ways to Kill Your Envy and Get Happier

An episode of [Office Hours with Arthur Brooks](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1832119842), 14 Sep 2026, 51 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO4317692427.mp3

Dante had a particularly gruesome punishment for the envious: their eyes were wired shut. In this episode of Office Hours, I explore why envy is such a powerful happiness killer—and how to stop feeding it in your own life. — Brought to you by: • Noble Mobile—With Noble, there is only one plan: The No-Bull Plan. It’s simple. It’s transparent. And if you use less data, you get cash back. Get an exclusive offer at: https://noblemobile.com/arthurbrooks — Where to find Arthur Brooks: • Website: https://arthurbrooks.com/ • In-person Retreats: https://retreats.arthurbrooks.com/ • Newsletter: https://www.arthurbrooks.com/newsletter • X: https://x.com/arthurbrooks • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arthurcbrooks/ • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArthurBrooks/ • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGuyFRjJQFGCKzfHTBvWM6A • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arthur-c-brooks/ • Email: officehours@arthurbrooks.com — Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 7:15 Dante’s Divine Comedy 11:56 Definition of envy and its purpose 18:46 Benign and malicious envy 24:13 The effects on the brain when you’re feeling envy 28:30 What people envy 33:25 5 ways to be less envious and much happier 45:06 Q&A: Four classic temperaments 46:34 Q&A: Developing your PhD research question 48:40 Q&A: Romantic love: addiction or happiness? — Referenced: • The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness: https://www.arthurbrooks.com/the-meaning-of-your-life • Arthur’s newsletter: https://www.arthurbrooks.com/newsletter • The Happiness Scale: https://learn.arthurbrooks.com/the-happiness-scale • Dante’s Purgatorio, Canto 13: http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu/reader?reader%5Bcantica%5D=2&reader%5Bcanto%5D=13 • Josef Epstein. Envy: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VQVKUPC?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback •Envy: An Adversarial Review and Comparison of Two Competing Views: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1754073919873131 •The Role of Subjective and Objective Social Status in the Generation of Envy: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.513495/full •When your gain is my pain and your pain is my gain: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19213918/ •Is envy harmful to a society's psychological health and wellbeing?: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29316510/ •Envy: Functional specificity and sex-differentiated design features: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-11291-001 •What to Do When Social Media Inspires Envy: https://daily.jstor.org/what-to-do-when-social-media-inspires-envy/ •Mitigating malicious envy: Why successful individuals should reveal their failures: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-11196-001 •How gratitude inhibits envy: From the perspective of positive psychology: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33300284/ •Bragging and humblebragging in online reviews: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738319302063?casa_token=2WdCSNbKzdQAAAAA:2PlvLLvja-2c9_454Rnb8h9GB55Kt0Rg3A1pY7XpBxksabWaNZBsbdjbnay4DhKlrJXhk-aEow • ...References continued at: https://www.arthurbrooks.com/office-hours — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/.

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