Dharma Daze #1
Why do we stress over how we appear to others?
Why do we stress over how we appear to others? The anxiety of feeling judged causes decisions that don’t align with our true desires or best interests. But we would have no awareness of being judged if we weren't constantly judging ourselves. There has to be the perception of being judged, along with an attachment to this judgment. Otherwise, you wouldn’t even think of being judged. You would be free of anxiety.
Our perspectives and values, along with what we think others value, constitute how we judge ourselves. Society creates tremendous overlap in the nature of people's anxieties. But then subgroups within society have different worries.
The basis of all negative emotions seems to be fear. Fear of failure, fear of judgment, fear of inadequacy.