The separate self you take yourself to be is a mind impression that is maintained in thoughts and feelings but that is not found anywhere else.
Getting lost in world, thoughts, emotions, feelings and sensations does not reveal the Self, does not clear the stage, does not bring you the tranquility and the freedom you seek.
Imagining yourself to be a form, an entity endowed with body and mind that exists in an external world is an unhappy dualistic model that cannot be validated in your experience. It is a belief and feeling structure.
Noticing the presence that does not come and go, that is not the result of any experience returns you to the source that is free from any arising.
Remember that which appears, in time it disappears.
Are you an appearance/disappearance?
You perceive the appearance and disappearance of world body mind, but do you perceive the appearance and disappearance of Self?
As long as you keep standing apart from the Self, it evades you.
Contemplate the various ways by which you stand apart from Self. The many ways in which you separate yourself.