Advice Not Given: A Guide to Getting Over Yourself

Our ego, and its accompanying sense of nagging self-doubt, is one affliction we all share. And while our ego claims to have our best interests at heart, in its never-ending pursuit of attention and power, it sabotages the very goals it sets to achieve. In Advice Not Given, renowned psychiatrist and author Dr Mark Epstein reveals how Buddhism and Western psychotherapy both identify the ego as the limiting factor in our wellbeing. With great insight, Epstein offers readers a how-to guide grounded in two traditions devoted to maximizing the human potential for living a better life. Epstein uses the Eightfold Path, eight areas of self-reflection that Buddhists believe necessary for enlightenment, as the structure of the book. When informed by the sensibility of Western psychotherapy, the principles of the Eightfold Path become a road map for spiritual and psychological growth. Breaking down the wall between East and West, Epstein brings a Buddhist sensibility to therapy and a therapist's practicality to Buddhism. Our ego is at once our biggest obstacle and our greatest hope. We can be at its mercy or we can learn to mould it. Completely unique and practical, Epstein's advice can be used by all, and will provide wise counsel in a confusing world.