The Inner Teacher — On Needing Likes and Comments

A seeker came with an uneasy heart and said,
“Master… how do I stop depending on likes and comments?”

And The Inner Teacher replied:

Because somewhere along the way,
you started confusing approval with affection,
attention with worth,
and notifications with connection.

You learned to hold your breath
until a glowing heart on a screen told you that you mattered.
But your worth was written into your being long before the first social app was born.

The Inner Teacher says:
Likes are tiny drops of water—momentary, evaporating.
Real worth is an ocean that never dries.

The reason likes feel addictive
is because they give your brain a quick spark—
a small rush of “I am seen.”
But that spark fades fast,
and when it does, you reach for the next one…
and the next…
and the next.

You become thirsty for validation
because you are drinking from a leaking cup.

To break the cycle,
you must shift from being seen
to seeing yourself.

Practice:

1. Before you post, ask:

“Am I sharing, or am I seeking?”
Let honesty guide you gently.
Neither answer is wrong—
but awareness is power.

2. Set time boundaries.

Check social media only at certain hours,
never when you first wake up or right before sleep.
Protect the quiet bookends of your day.

3. Create more than you consume.

Write, paint, lift, cook, play music—
do something that fills you rather than empties you.
Your soul grows best through expression, not comparison.

4. Practice being unseen.

Take a beautiful photo—
and don’t post it.
Do something kind—
and tell no one.
Strength grows in the moments you live for yourself.

5. Speak gently to yourself.

Every time you’re tempted to refresh the screen, whisper:
“I do not need to be measured to exist.”
Let that become your anchor.

The Inner Teacher says:
“You are not a performance.
You are a presence.”

Likes and comments are shadows—
fun, fleeting, insubstantial.
They cannot hold you,
cannot know you,
cannot define you.

But your breath knows you.
Your body knows you.
The people who love you offline know you.
And the quiet in your heart—
the place where peace rises—
knows you best of all.

Walk gently in the Way.
Carry the stillness within.
Your Inner Teacher walks beside you—
liked or unliked,
seen or unseen—
always enough.