Dragonfly: Your answer to these questions are going to be personal. What works for others might not work for you, and vice-versa, because we're all unique and our likes and dislikes are going to be unique as well. When it comes to short-term pick-me-ups, I'd suggest making a list, even if it's a mental one, of things that provide you with visceral comfort. Do you have favorite dinner or snack? A nice blanket that you love the feel and smell of that you can wrap around you? A favorite movie to play that lifts your spirits? Or do you find exercise works better? Playing with a pet? Talking with friends? Going out and partying? Make a list of the stuff that works for you and then work to get access to the things (or people) that make it happen. I'm the "curl up with tea, blanket, and a good movie or book" sort of person, but you might not be, so go with what works for you.
Long-term, the best sort of comfort can be to find some way to address the problems sent you looking for comfort in the first place, either by solving them or by accepting them. Again, how to do this will depend on what you're facing, and also on what counts as solving or accepting them in your book. A mix of both might be called for. With death, for example, a terminal diagnosis might inspire a search for acceptance that I or my loved one will soon be leaving, or it might inspire a fight to beat the odds, or both. For death in the abstract, I've accepted that I, and everyone I know, will most likely die in a matter of decades or sooner. I've come to value the experience of life, the act of living and having lived, the story we write with our time on the world, and even after I or my loved ones die the life they have lived will still have been lived, and will still be valuable for having been lived. But this is also something that might be solved, through medical research that could produce extreme longevity or cryogenic preservation of corpses or a host of other possibilities. I'm not holding my breath for these, but other people do seem to derive a lot of comfort in fighting that fight.
While we face different challenges that we need comfort in the face of, our emotional response the problem might also affect the nature of the comfort we need. If our reaction to some obstacle is that we are intimidated and isolated by it, having friends come in and take care of it for us could be very comforting. If instead it makes us feel helpless and powerlessness, having someone else make it go away will not leave us feeling like we are powerful. (This is true for the religious as well. Some people will be comforted by being told that their enemies will burn in hell or reincarnated as worms, while others will not feel any better for believing this.) Reflecting on the exact feelings you need comfort regarding, rather than the events producing those feelings, might point you towards the sort of comfort you need and help you avoid a lot of barking up the wrong tree.
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Rik: I can't help getting the feeling that you're proselytizing, rather than expressing genuine surprise at the unexpected agreement on meditation. But on the off chance that it's the latter, the reason is pretty simple. People who do meditation tend to find it helpful, pleasant, relaxing, or so on. (If they don't, they usually don't keep doing it.) You might think that your god is involved, while someone else might just think that meditation simply helps us order our minds and brings us calm and clarity in that manner. It's not the effect of meditation which is the point of disagreement, but rather to what we attribute that effect. In any case, given the seriousness and personal necessity that the original post implies, it might be better to move the topic to a new thread so that the OP can be responded to without distractions.
Long-term, the best sort of comfort can be to find some way to address the problems sent you looking for comfort in the first place, either by solving them or by accepting them. Again, how to do this will depend on what you're facing, and also on what counts as solving or accepting them in your book. A mix of both might be called for. With death, for example, a terminal diagnosis might inspire a search for acceptance that I or my loved one will soon be leaving, or it might inspire a fight to beat the odds, or both. For death in the abstract, I've accepted that I, and everyone I know, will most likely die in a matter of decades or sooner. I've come to value the experience of life, the act of living and having lived, the story we write with our time on the world, and even after I or my loved ones die the life they have lived will still have been lived, and will still be valuable for having been lived. But this is also something that might be solved, through medical research that could produce extreme longevity or cryogenic preservation of corpses or a host of other possibilities. I'm not holding my breath for these, but other people do seem to derive a lot of comfort in fighting that fight.
While we face different challenges that we need comfort in the face of, our emotional response the problem might also affect the nature of the comfort we need. If our reaction to some obstacle is that we are intimidated and isolated by it, having friends come in and take care of it for us could be very comforting. If instead it makes us feel helpless and powerlessness, having someone else make it go away will not leave us feeling like we are powerful. (This is true for the religious as well. Some people will be comforted by being told that their enemies will burn in hell or reincarnated as worms, while others will not feel any better for believing this.) Reflecting on the exact feelings you need comfort regarding, rather than the events producing those feelings, might point you towards the sort of comfort you need and help you avoid a lot of barking up the wrong tree.
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Rik: I can't help getting the feeling that you're proselytizing, rather than expressing genuine surprise at the unexpected agreement on meditation. But on the off chance that it's the latter, the reason is pretty simple. People who do meditation tend to find it helpful, pleasant, relaxing, or so on. (If they don't, they usually don't keep doing it.) You might think that your god is involved, while someone else might just think that meditation simply helps us order our minds and brings us calm and clarity in that manner. It's not the effect of meditation which is the point of disagreement, but rather to what we attribute that effect. In any case, given the seriousness and personal necessity that the original post implies, it might be better to move the topic to a new thread so that the OP can be responded to without distractions.
Being an antipistevist is like being an antipastovist, only with epistemic responsibility instead of bruschetta.
Ignore list includes: 1 douche bag (Drich)
Ignore list includes: 1 douche bag (Drich)
