Cattāri Brahmavihārā

I feel that I easily see the dangers on the snares of lust and hatred of others but, when it comes to self-loathing and perceptions of low self worth I know that I often take Mara's whisperings as statements of fact. But, how could they be?

When the voices in my head have terrible things to say about anyone else I immediately recognize them as dangerous but when they tell me that I'm a sham, that I need to do better and that my practice is worthless I swallow it whole. Why?

Clearly, as someone who is devoted to the practice of dana, sila and bhavana I can't be doing that badly. Even if I spent my whole life fruitlessly attending to buddho and following the five precepts what would be wrong with that? Why is that not good enough? At times like this out always helps me to see more clearly by contemplating my mind state as if it belonged to someone else. What would I tell a stranger having these thoughts of not being good enough, pure enough? I would tell them to relax and take comfort in the good they have done. To use it as a base from which to do more.

And that's precisely what I intend to do.