India, June 28 -- The human mind perennially tends to keep itself occupied in comparing people, places, conditions, situations, objects, ills, looks, tastes, physiques, abilities, skills, and even romances. Never does it stop thinking, as long as it ticks. And never does it cease its habit of comparison with others.

The upside of this habit could at times lead to great energies sprouting up from within, and individuals outdoing themselves with sheer will power that has emanated from comparison with a superior entity. An athlete, for instance, might propel himself onwards so willfully, and with so much power, that he breaks all personal records, in the quest for bettering the mark set by someone else.

But another upshot of this tendency ...