This is the BBC World Service. I am Santa Safi and welcome to World of Wisdom,

where we explore different approaches to some of the personal issues that life turns up.

Have you ever felt troubled by what others think about you?

I expect just about everyone has at some point.

Sneha from India contacted us via our website at BBC World of Wisdom for advice on a question of jealousy.

I would like to know how to deal with the jealous people who have been creating huddles for me for past five years now because they can't reach to my level.

These things actually bother me more than it should.

Whether we experience jealousy, rudeness or lack of respect, we can all be hurt by the way we feel others act.

Sneha sees people's jealousy as a hurdle in her life. We are very grateful to her for her courage in being open

about this issue. This is a shortened version of a conversation she had with American writer and teacher Gary Zukoff.

Sneeha, would you be open to looking at this circumstance from a different perspective?

Yeah, sure. Why not? Well, first let me tell you I'm not a therapist or a

counselor, but I would like to share with you a perspective that I think might be

helpful for you. If it produces something that you like, experiment with it.

And if it doesn't, let it go.

Don't try to wear a shoe that pinches.

Right.

So the different perspective I'm going to suggest is that you turn your focus away from the people that it's now attached to and turn it on to yourself.

So you mean to say I should ignore them?

No.

No, you can't ignore them.

But what you're doing at the moment is looking at them through a filter, and that

...