My very dear one, 
You should study the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s Essence of Refined Gold, which is a commentary to Lama Tsongkhapa’s short lam-rim, Hymns of Experience, then do according to that. In this way you can progress your mind toward enlightenment, through tantric realizations. Your life becomes pure by practicing the root of the path to enlightenment, correctly devoting to the virtuous friend as the most important thing, then renunciation, bodhicitta and emptiness.

Essence of Refined Gold is the lam-rim text that came out good for you. It is the best for your practice in my observation. You can study other lam-rim texts, like Lama Tsongkhapa’s Middling Lam rim or Great Lam rim but you will probably need a teacher for that, because there may be many things you don’t know and don’t understand.

There is also Pabongka Rinpoche’s Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. Sometimes it seems like there are comments in Liberation that put down other sects but actually it is only putting down those who are doing the wrong practice in the Nyingma and Kagyü traditions and have wrong view. It is not putting down those who are practicing correctly. You have to understand it that way. Pabongka Rinpoche is only praising those who are doing the right practice in those traditions, he is not putting them down.

You have to know that even though something is called Buddhist and Buddhism that doesn’t mean that every single thing people are practicing is necessarily correct. There is wrong conduct and wrong view even when people believe what they are practicing is Buddhism. When I say this I’m talking in general, not referring to the Nyingma, Kagyü or Gelug traditions.

Even though bodhicitta comes much later; first of all there is renunciation of this life, then renunciation of future lives’ samsara, happiness and perfections, then comes actualizing bodhicitta, but for you, from the very beginning you must practice Dharma with the motivation of bodhicitta. Not only for your meditation but also when you are walking, sitting, sleeping, working and so forth. These should be done as much as possible with bodhicitta—to free others from suffering and bring them to the highest happiness of enlightenment.

In this way, even if you don’t have the actual realization of bodhicitta but just the effortful motivation, still you live your life for others from the heart. Practice this way as much as possible, then you are living your life day and night with bodhicitta.  If you have bodhicitta motivation most of your life becomes Dharma, the cause of happiness for your future lives. It’s also the cause for you to achieve nirvana, everlasting freedom from samsara, and the cause for you to achieve sang gyä or buddhahood—the total elimination of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations—for all sentient beings.

Doing everything with a bodhicitta motivation is a very wise way of practicing Dharma, a quick way to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings. By practicing in this way as much as possible, not only your meditation but your whole life—even walking, sitting, sleeping, eating, working and so forth—becomes the cause of happiness for all sentient beings and especially enlightenment. That is incredible. It is the most beneficial life. When that happens your life is most beneficial and most meaningful. Thank you very much.

With much love and prayers...