Sincerity & Good Deeds

After a really good prayer or a night of worship I feel a quiet glow of self-admiration. Has my pride wiped out the reward? After years of worship I feel I have earned a certain standing with Allah. Is it dangerous to feel I am owed anything for my deeds? Does giving a large public donation for a masjid, where my name will be seen, cancel the reward compared to a quiet gift? How can my intention be pure when honestly my heart wants Paradise and fears the Fire? Isn’t that still working for a reward? How do I keep my intention clean when I first begin a deed, but halfway through the thought of showing off creeps in uninvited? I am terrified that all the worship I have done my whole life might be secretly worthless in Allah’s sight. How do I live with that fear? I do so much good for my family and community, yet I sometimes wonder if I am really doing it for their approval and not for Allah. How do I tell the difference? I feel my prayers are so full of distraction and half-heartedness that they must be hollow. Are hollow deeds better than no deeds at all? I hear that riya is a ‘hidden shirk’ and it frightens me so much that I’m scared to do any good deed at all. How do I move forward without this fear paralysing me? I keep counting my prayers, charity and fasts and feel proud of the pile. Does a big heap of good deeds automatically make me a better person? I sometimes think that if I just do more and more good works, my past mistakes will be buried and I’ll be safe. Is that how it works? I started a good habit sincerely, but now people praise me for it and I’ve grown to love the praise. Should I stop the deed to protect my heart? If I do a kind thing partly to please Allah and partly because I want people to think well of me, is the whole thing spoiled? If my heart isn’t fully sincere yet, should I wait until my intention is pure before I start praying and giving, or begin anyway? Is it better to hide my good deeds completely, or does keeping them secret risk becoming its own kind of showing off in my heart? Is one small deed done purely for Allah truly worth more than a hundred grand deeds done for people to see? When I compare my worship to someone who prays far less than me, I feel spiritually ahead of them. Is this quiet superiority harming me? When I do a good deed and expect nothing back, but the person doesn’t even acknowledge it, why does the resentment I feel make me doubt my own sincerity? When I do something good but it feels good to be seen doing it, is my whole deed ruined? When I share my charity or good work online for a good cause, how do I know if it is riya or genuine encouragement to others? When someone praises my worship to my face, the warm feeling I get worries me. Does simply enjoying that feeling count as riya?