Reddit mentions of Work, Sex, Money: Real Life on the Path of Mindfulness

I've thought a lot about this apparent conflict during the past years and my conclusion is that there is no conflict for two reasons.

First, Buddhism is about working with our present situation as it is, and that includes paying bills, living in a society, having responsibilities and relationships.

Second, goals are just imaginary. We put a lot of landmarks in our lifes, and we constantly compare our present self with those future ideals in order to value ourselves. But the more our lifes are closer to Dharma, the more we value the present moment, and thus the less interesting those imaginary goals become, to the point that simply living becomes the goal. At this point we still work, study and strive to be good at what we do, but the whole process looks less heavy and more joyful. That's the difference.

I recommend you the book Work, Sex, Money: Real Life on the Path of Mindfulness by Trungpa Rinpoche.

I have read a couple of decent books that are kind of a spiritual/metaphysical approach to self-help. These aren't so much about self-confidence as they are about gaining a more peaceful perspective on your entire life, which in turn will help you feel more confident about yourself.

The first is called Loving What Is by Byron Katie. She discusses a method called the turnaround, where you examine negative beliefs about yourself, and sort of meditate on them to realize that they are not true. Then you start to replace them with more positive beliefs, and your perspective becomes a lot brighter.

Another one I liked is Work Sex Money by Chogyam Trungpa.. This one is about taking a sort of Western-adapted Buddhist approach to your life without traveling to a monastery or any of the garbage that people assume they have to do in order to be more peaceful. It provides very logical ideas for examining your life and taking the stress out of it, which will help you find more of your own identity.

Finally, this is a bit of a weird one, but A Course in Miracles is my favorite. I don't recommend this for personal reading, but if you can find a weekly group or something where they read this book, it can be an amazing resource for improving your life. The book goes against a lot of Christian beliefs about the afterlife and metaphysics, but it basically teaches that you are the only one in control of your life.

If these are too intense, maybe try Tony Robbins, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, Wayne Dyer, Marianne Williamson, Ken Wapnick. Sorry if none of these interest you.