There is a scene in International Velvet when a
horse on a rival Olympic team knocks down a pole and incurs a points-error.
When the protagonist’s aunt Velvet sees the error on television, she shouts, “Good!”
The opponent’s error has made a little more room for her niece, Sarah, to
secure a team gold medal if she can get around the course without making any
mistakes. (Of course, she does.) But that doesn’t happen before Velvet’s
partner, John, raises an eyebrow and comments, “That’s not very sporting of
you!”
Schadenfreude.
I came across this word in the context of the plot in A Trick of the Light, a
novel by Louise Penny, which I finished
reading a few weeks ago. Basically, it means “deriving pleasure from someone
else’s misfortune.” In the book, one of the characters is finally enjoying the critical
recognition of her talent at a private show for her paintings, followed by a celebratory
barbecue at her home. However, her husband and some friends discover the body
of a former friend/enemy their garden the following day. The artist wants to
celebrate the success of her show and budding career, but she feels guilty about
wanting her art to be lauded even after the crime that happened in front of her
home. Perhaps more disturbing to her is the eventual realization that her
husband, a successful artist, has actually been jealous of her talent for many
years and secretly hoped that the murder might derail her success a little bit.
In addition to the scenarios described above, Urban
Dictionary lists several common examples of this experience: hearing
someone shout “Hold the door!” while running for an elevator, only to reach the
lift just as the door shuts. Or, a straight-A student missing one question on a
five-question quiz to bring the test score down to a B (80 percent). How about when
the quarterback on the opposing team gets sacked after preventing your team
from scoring a touch-down? Another example might be watching the value of a
company’s stock shares plummet right after you have been fired. And so on.
It is not uncommon or even unnatural to feel happy about or want to get
a small bit of compensation for our own misfortune. But, how “good” does it
really feel? Does it make you feel happy? Relieved? Or, do you scramble for all
of the reasons why the other person deserved this misfortune or inconvenience
so you can justify feeling good about
it? Human emotions can be very tricky things. They can be accompanied by
physiological sensations such as palpitations, change in breathing, trembling,
etc. Sometimes censorial thoughts from the conscious mind (and conscience)
intrude on these celebrations, too: Why do I feel good about someone else
feeling bad?
Try this simple technique to get a different perspective about what is
going on inside and around you: Draw a deep, calming breath and hold this air
in your lungs for four seconds. Do not think about the situation, your emotions
or why you think/imagine you felt the way you do or did when the situation
first occurred. Instead, focus your attention on your breath and someone or
something that brings you a lot of love and joy. Perhaps it is your spouse, or
your kids, a pet, your job, a hobby, etc. Then, as you exhale, release the breath
on the word love. Repeat this
exercise several times to reinforce this positive direction of your attention.
In
his book, Success
Is Not an Accident: The Mental Bank Concept, Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., explains how the
mental scripts we program into our subconscious mind determine the outcome of
our actions. Whether we imagine a positive or negative result, the SCM follows
that subconscious mental script to actualize the goal you “want.” When we
focus on enjoying the negative outcome another person is experiencing, we may
also be reinforcing a subconscious desire for a similar negative event to
happen to us. Conversely, when we send out positive, encouraging energy to
celebrate another person’s success, we are also telling the subconscious mind, I want success, too! Whether that success
includes getting into an elevator before the door closes or celebrating your
partner’s triumphant art show, wishing another person well is more likely to
attract good things to you than the temporary pleasure of schadenfreude ever
could.
For more information about the Law of Attraction, I invite you to read my blog titled Intuition and the Law of Attraction and check out the book resources on this topic in Suggested Reading.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based
in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation
Institute in 2005. For more
information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an
appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
© 2016
