If you have a sustainable solution to provide you'll be rich. I default to squelching thoughts of my mortality. That is at the top of the list of mental frames that have improved my life. I otherwise lived in constant existential panic from the ages of 12 to 25. Thanks a lot Nietzsche...
What works for me is negative visualization. Thinking of the worst possible thing that can happen, and how I'd feel in that situation. It's kind of like exposure therapy.
I had the same issue I think, struggled with it up to around 25 when a doctor asked me to try melatonin.
It actually changed my life, now I can sleep and be like a normal person. I used to joke that I was a C-type person (instead of A/B) when it comes to sleep.
I thought so too. I have at least 150 hrs of meditation under my belt. I can't say I'm worse or better, just another silly thing for my ego to carry around.
Take it from me. Ignoring your mortality is a lot easier.
150 hours over how long time? Those who aren't "naturals" may need more than that to "get it" and start seeing benefits (coming from someone who after several attempts in various forms finally "broke through", in lack of better words, on day ~6 of a 10 day Goenka-Vipassana retreat. That'd be ~10 h / day during that time).
After that I was able to do 30-60 minute sittings at home and experience the associated change. If you're also a very cerebral person you may also need a similarly concentrated "boot camp" or similar to get to some base level.
In a similar vein, if someone has extremely weak physique, it's not really convincing when they claim that physical exercise doesn't work for them, as they did spend 150h at the gym machines ;)
That's a great point. I guess hype made my expectations unrealistic. I have it on my to-do list to get the habit going again. I'll try this weekend!
I've wanted to do a retreat very badly. I would need to work to organize my current world to fit it in but it's something I have in the back of my mind.
