Sometimes I take an evening walk so it won’t be too bad when I try to sleep.

chemicals.

I’m sure this is only a me thing, but for me I found it easier to concentrate on specific sounds… Like the ringing in my ears.

As a kid, I’ve always had ear ringing, but it doesn’t bother me too much in day to day life. I do have to ask people to repeat themselves if I’m not focused directly on them or cant read their lips, but at night or quiet moments, the ringing is a soft and gentle sound, like someone running a moist finger over the rim of some crystal ware. Very nice in winter on a soft moonlit night

I focus on that ringing in a nice quiet and dark room, let it sing in my ears, and then close my eyes.

I then focus on the funny golden geometrical sparkles, triangles, and if I relax, a small black circle with a white border starts to show up. It seems like a 2D object, constantly rotating quickly on a 3D plane, but slowly grows bigger.

For some reason, I find these oddities comforting. The visuals remind me a bit of the pressure halo’s in your vision when you get a migraine, but without the pain, and covering the field of vision with your eyes closed only.

Once when I was 4, I let that black circle engulf the entirety of my vision as I lay in bed, and the black faded into a creamy golden background with rainbow confetti falling. Obviously it’s not really, just some other strange visuals.

Ahem. In either case, I use these to focus and relax at night to tell my brain to shut up.

This is why I love weed. It shuts the electrical jello in my skull the fuck up.

Mindfulness and meditation? As far as I understand it, it’s about controlling your thoughts and what to think (and feel). I know it exists, can’t say if it actually helps - it looks promising but requires training and persistence. Ahem… :)