Today, I am going to talk about comparative thinking, and the dangers of it.

As you may well know, comparative thinking is that logical process that often, illogically, convinces you to believe that the grass is greener on the other side. The trouble being, that quite regularly, the grass is greener on the other side… it’s just chemically enhanced and will slowly build up inside the gut of your stomach if you eat it… and of course to get to the other side you have to cross a bridge under which a troll lives who will eat your soul, or in the very least shank you and take your wallet.

So why does it still hang around? Why do we still encourage compatitive thinking to come with us on dates, go through everyone’s monthly paychecks and secretly glance sideways in the changing room at the leisure park? Why don’t we just obliterate this thought process entirely and all feel better in the knowledge that, compared to when we were comparing things all the time, we’re much more mature and rounded people. Well, aside from the obvious point of impossibility, it’s never going to be as simple as wiping this nature out from out collective psyche with a brillo pad, but the analagy perserveres and I’ll endeavour to provide some clearer reasoning with a little bit more rambling.

There are some positives you can glean from comparitive thinking, but you do have to be made aware of the problems, the slip holes of logic that you’re likely to find while navigating my minefield of visual metaphores. Logic isn’t taken as a class in school, this point made abundantly clear if you take a glance at…

Logic is one of those strange self imposed developments. It’s something we’re expected to have, and only a few people I know are abundantly wealthy in. So here I am, saving all of you the trouble of learning from your mistakes by learning from mine, if you’re engaged and receptive at least. If not, this might still prove and entertaining for couple of minutes at least.

Comparative thinking also breeds the shared guilt logic that so horrified

Comparative thinking can be a positive thing, of course, when you think about how much better off you are compared to all those hungry orphans stuck in Oxfam adverts, but in the greater part it seems to be used in a negative, jealous manner.