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There are a lot of good suggestions here.

Reading religion and philosophy definitely helps. A good way to get into that is to find a writer you like (can be anyone) then find out who their influences were. I've enjoyed reading Joseph Campbell and Alan Watts.

Exercise is a great thing as well. It's surprising to me how extremely positive a force daily exercise is in my life.

Writing, therapy... all really good things to consider. You have to find what's right for you. That's a hard thing to do when you're in a slump.

You need a challenge or, even better, a challenging journey. Have you traveled seriously or lived in another country? If not, do it. Go with your fiance, spend at least a year in a foreign place.

Good luck.




Can you suggest some good reading? Watts has a ton of stuff out there..


Watts is fun, but not very practical or informative. The anti-intellectual tendency of Zen makes it relatively difficult as field of self-study. All schools of Buddhism necessarily rely on teacher feedback, but the dependence in Zen is particularly acute.

The book I learned from is Wake Up To Your Life, by Ken McLeod. Mindfulness in Plain English is also excellent, and available for free online.


The Way of Zen is great. The paradoxes of Zen are fun if you're a programmer-type.




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