Self esteem - Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Self esteem - Thanissaro Bhikkhu

"When you’re dealing with difficult things from the past, have the attitude that, “At least I’m going to learn from this.” That shifts the foundation onto something much more solid, so that you’re not making your happiness depend on something you *know* is going to be washed away by the waves of time. It’s a foundation based on a much more clear-eyed sense of fear, focused on what should appropriately be feared — the unwillingness to learn — for that’s what keeps people blind. That’s what keeps people suffering.

This unwillingness to learn is something we all suffer from, and we all need to learn how to overcome it. Only when we can overcome it do we actually start learning lessons. Otherwise we go through life refusing to learn the lessons that are potentially there. So try to be the sort of person who picks up lessons quickly, because the more quickly you pick them up the less you suffer. It’s as simple as that."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Self Esteem" (Meditations3)

https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/Meditations3/Section0032.html