Being constantly present. Otherwise known as achieving “flow”. I forget the Buddhist term for it. Phish would call it a 'medium pace"
The method I think boils down to moderation, tending towards action that increase harmony, and avoiding actions (including mental actions) that decrease harmony. Use simple wisdom: There’s the whole eight fold path of Buddhism. The “Golden Rule” common to many different schools of thought. The “and ye do no harm, do as thou will” of paganism. And the old “accept what you can’t change, change what you can, and learn the difference” which is similar to the Buddhist tenets about suffering.
I’m not entirely familiar with the philosphy, so bear with me if what I’m saying smells like it’s pulled directly from my ass.
But my understanding is that the now very rarely sucks. If it seems like it does, there’s still some remnant of dreading the future or fretting over the past. Maybe you had a fight with your wife this morning, and it has you very upset. Maybe you dread going home tonight because you fear she’s going to konk you on the head with a frying pan. But right now, in this exact point of time, it’s just you and the universe.
Four ways of doing more or less the same thing. I’ve done the 2nd and something similar to the 4th. Great fun. I have one particular so-called insight that when considered rationally is complete nonsense, but due to the way my brain experienced it I can conjure this up at any time and feel something akin to God (the veracity of this feeling doesn’t matter - it’s what my brain feels).
Suckiness is a preconception. Most things just seem to suck because we psychologically resist them. The point is not to behaviorally accept your situation and do nothing but instead to psychologically accept your situation but still take action. Some events are painful, true, but pain only becomes suffering if we resist it or persist it. And some “bad” things we make the mistake of not only experiencing it’s inherent ‘badness’ but perpetuating that ‘badness’ by thinking about it, worrying about it, reliving it, fearing it, etc.
Plus, being ‘in the now’ stretches the perception of time in such a way that the suckiness feels diluted and may even be aesthetically appreciated with practice.
Take the partial derivative of the state and set it equal to zero. Then, take the second derivative, and use only the values where the state is increasing just prior to the zero point.
Practice agape. I recommend “The Four Loves” by C.S. Lewis. On a similar note, Metta also sounds super.
Being ready to die at any moment probably helps. Think about death and rebirth. Don’t forget to kill the Buddha if you see him.
Psychologically speaking, research into states of flow is another good bet, states where the automatic and reflective thinking styles of the brain are in perfect harmony.
The Dragon Ball Z method can work too, but only if you get the absolute shit kicked out of you about once a year or so.
Of course, this whole question assumes that opening yourself to the universe is a desirable thing. I believe it is in the end, but from all the thought and research I’ve put into it, the journey is highly unpleasant. There ain’t no free lunch, and the universe is one mighty big sandwich.
