I can give you lots of small examples of different things, hopefully you can use these or become inspired to try similar things.
One thing I did was ask myself a lot of difficult questions. As you’d expect of a depressed person, I came up with a lot of negative answers—but I kept catching myself lying. None of the negativity was actually true. Every time, the truth was something neutral or even positive, I just needed the courage to actually consider the question. When a doubt or problem is resolved, you will experience relief, something will “click”, and you should feel a burst of energy. As with phobias, most fantasies are much worse than reality could ever be, so they shrink when confronted. Speaking of which, the experience of the world is a projection of oneself, everything is colored by ones mood and way of thinking. Difficult philosophical questions are always symptoms rather than causes, but you do feel better if you solve one (although some of them have no asnwer). You will see what you look for, and your experience will be filled with whatever you focus on. Perception is a filter and interpreter. As for the “real” perspective, it does not exist.
I tended to my mental associations, and noticed that they had become tainted/stained, and decided to clean them up. For instance, I might love the taste of cola, but dislike the Cola company, and drink it with the knowledge that I’m drinking dangerous sugar water which is harmful to my teeth. My brain is basically mixing the pleasant experience with related unpleasant knowledge, ruining it. But why? Harmful things are not more harmful just because one enjoys them. It’s all the brain making itself misery as a way of defending itself (usually against imaginary worries).
You might also remember enjoying a soft bed as a child, actually savoring it, but notice that you as an adult connect the bed with negative things like dust mites, the price of the bed, the effort of making it look nice… In short, that you reject things as you experience them, because you deem them unclean or hostile in a way. A place which feels like home is an entirely different experience from a place which feels public or hostile, and I think that high neuroticism pushes one away from the homely perception. I think this might also harm sleep quality, because why wouldn’t it? If you think your environment is hostile, your brain will prefer light sleep, and you’ll never feel at ease. But more importantly, the difference in experience is like hugging a family member vs hugging a stranger, in the latter case, you reject the experience you have as you’re experiencing it—you feel less, you create a barrier between yourself and the moment (this is likely similar to the causes of derealization/depersonalization) and close off yourself to the world.
I tried recalling earlier versions of myself (e.g. childhood) and to reconnect with perspectives which gave things more value. I started thinking more locally and subjectively, and to allow myself to participate in things rather than being a passive observer. I also decided to be more vulnerable (this is basically the same as being open) and to make my mind a less brutal place (if the pressure is too high, pleasant thoughts scatter immediately, and softer aspects of ones personality go into hiding). I lowered my standards a bit as to raise the baseline value of everything, focused on the journey rather than the destination. I also started seeing successes as gains, rather than imagining ideal futures and considering deviations from them as losses.
I also reflected over morality and things like egoism a lot. It turns out that society had told me a lot of wrong things, and I started following the actual rules rather than the ones I was taught. I also allowed myself to be myself, which gave me back some agency and identity.
A short, practical method is to start with something that you want to be true, and then looking for evidence that it’s true. Your brain will find it, and then update its beliefs accordingly, it’s good at that. A mechanism which might work against you would be your brain looking for flaws in positive beliefs in order to protect you against disappointment and such, it’s also really good at that. This doesn’t mean that the thing in question is true or false. The truth actually doesn’t matter too much. Belief, confidence, meaning—they’re basically self-fulfilling. Anything is possible in the mind. Reality has limits, but they’re not as relevant as they seem, and your well-being doesn’t depend on what’s true, but what you believe to be true.
Finally, think about Vikings. Their version of heaven is one filled with war. They managed to find meaning and value in something which terrifies most people today, and who is to say that their interpretation is wrong? Reflecting over how seemingly negative things are necessary helps one to appreciate them. I also find that there’s beauty to be found in most things, and that beauty is also anti-nihilistic.
I could keep going like this for multiple pages, and every example listen here can also be expanded to multiple pages. I’m not sure which part here is the most useful.
I can give you lots of small examples of different things, hopefully you can use these or become inspired to try similar things.
One thing I did was ask myself a lot of difficult questions. As you’d expect of a depressed person, I came up with a lot of negative answers—but I kept catching myself lying. None of the negativity was actually true. Every time, the truth was something neutral or even positive, I just needed the courage to actually consider the question. When a doubt or problem is resolved, you will experience relief, something will “click”, and you should feel a burst of energy. As with phobias, most fantasies are much worse than reality could ever be, so they shrink when confronted. Speaking of which, the experience of the world is a projection of oneself, everything is colored by ones mood and way of thinking. Difficult philosophical questions are always symptoms rather than causes, but you do feel better if you solve one (although some of them have no asnwer). You will see what you look for, and your experience will be filled with whatever you focus on. Perception is a filter and interpreter. As for the “real” perspective, it does not exist.
I tended to my mental associations, and noticed that they had become tainted/stained, and decided to clean them up. For instance, I might love the taste of cola, but dislike the Cola company, and drink it with the knowledge that I’m drinking dangerous sugar water which is harmful to my teeth. My brain is basically mixing the pleasant experience with related unpleasant knowledge, ruining it. But why? Harmful things are not more harmful just because one enjoys them. It’s all the brain making itself misery as a way of defending itself (usually against imaginary worries).
You might also remember enjoying a soft bed as a child, actually savoring it, but notice that you as an adult connect the bed with negative things like dust mites, the price of the bed, the effort of making it look nice… In short, that you reject things as you experience them, because you deem them unclean or hostile in a way. A place which feels like home is an entirely different experience from a place which feels public or hostile, and I think that high neuroticism pushes one away from the homely perception. I think this might also harm sleep quality, because why wouldn’t it? If you think your environment is hostile, your brain will prefer light sleep, and you’ll never feel at ease. But more importantly, the difference in experience is like hugging a family member vs hugging a stranger, in the latter case, you reject the experience you have as you’re experiencing it—you feel less, you create a barrier between yourself and the moment (this is likely similar to the causes of derealization/depersonalization) and close off yourself to the world.
I tried recalling earlier versions of myself (e.g. childhood) and to reconnect with perspectives which gave things more value. I started thinking more locally and subjectively, and to allow myself to participate in things rather than being a passive observer. I also decided to be more vulnerable (this is basically the same as being open) and to make my mind a less brutal place (if the pressure is too high, pleasant thoughts scatter immediately, and softer aspects of ones personality go into hiding). I lowered my standards a bit as to raise the baseline value of everything, focused on the journey rather than the destination. I also started seeing successes as gains, rather than imagining ideal futures and considering deviations from them as losses.
I also reflected over morality and things like egoism a lot. It turns out that society had told me a lot of wrong things, and I started following the actual rules rather than the ones I was taught. I also allowed myself to be myself, which gave me back some agency and identity.
A short, practical method is to start with something that you want to be true, and then looking for evidence that it’s true. Your brain will find it, and then update its beliefs accordingly, it’s good at that. A mechanism which might work against you would be your brain looking for flaws in positive beliefs in order to protect you against disappointment and such, it’s also really good at that. This doesn’t mean that the thing in question is true or false. The truth actually doesn’t matter too much. Belief, confidence, meaning—they’re basically self-fulfilling. Anything is possible in the mind. Reality has limits, but they’re not as relevant as they seem, and your well-being doesn’t depend on what’s true, but what you believe to be true.
Finally, think about Vikings. Their version of heaven is one filled with war. They managed to find meaning and value in something which terrifies most people today, and who is to say that their interpretation is wrong? Reflecting over how seemingly negative things are necessary helps one to appreciate them. I also find that there’s beauty to be found in most things, and that beauty is also anti-nihilistic.
I could keep going like this for multiple pages, and every example listen here can also be expanded to multiple pages. I’m not sure which part here is the most useful.