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Comparison is the thief of joy.
–Theodore Roosevelt
Even when we have "enough" by any reasonable measure, many of us can still feel unsettled when we see what others have achieved, earned, or accumulated. Someone's vacation photos might make our own life feel lacking or dull, or a colleague's promotion suddenly can make our accomplishments seem smaller.
Success offers no immunity against the measuring mind.
The ancient Pali language from Buddhism has a specific term for this universal human tendency: mana—the conditioned response to measure ourselves against others which, according to ancient teachings, amplifies our suffering.
Here's what makes mana so insidious with money: it transforms wealth from a tool for freedom into an endless game of comparison where "enough" is always just out of reach.
Image by Giphy
Understanding Mana and Its Financial Impact
Mana isn't just casual comparison—it's a persistent mental pattern that creates two distinct forms of suffering:
- "I'm superior" (pride that breeds isolation and overconfidence)
- "I'm inferior" (inadequacy that drives compulsive behaviors like over exercising, over working and over accumulating)
In my 30+ years of working with people around money and mindfulness, I've observed that mana is perhaps the single greatest obstacle to financial peace.
When we're caught in mana, we're never truly wealthy—no matter our bank balance—because our sense of "enough" is always dictated by someone else's achievements.
How Mana Affects Your Brain
Recent research in behavioral psychology confirms what contemplatives have long understood: comparison-based thinking activates our brain's stress response system, triggering fight-or-flight reactions that impair decision-making and creative problem-solving. For example, this study among university students found that those who engaged in more frequent daily comparisons reported significantly higher levels of perceived stress.
When we operate from mana, we're literally thinking from a place of perceived threat. This is why comparison often leads to reckless financial risks where we’re trying to "catch up," or scarcity thinking where we’re hoarding out of fear.
The antidote isn't positive thinking—it's awareness. By developing the capacity to notice mana as it arises, we can reclaim the space between stimulus and response where our wisest choices live.
Interrupting Mana: A Simple Daily Reset
This month, I invite you to experiment with a simple but powerful practice:
Each morning, before checking any social media, news, or financial accounts, spend 60 seconds taking inventory of two things:
- One aspect of your current financial life you genuinely appreciate, such as a positive shift over the past 10 or 15 years. (We tend to forget how much we’ve grown.)
- One financial choice you made from wisdom rather than comparison
This isn't about gratitude platitudes—it's about training your nervous system to recognize enough rather than scarcity as your baseline.
When mana arises during the day (and it will), return to this sense of your own enough-ness. Then notice how different financial decisions feel when made from a mindset of sufficiency rather than comparison.
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