The parable of Kisagotami could be helpful in reframing one’s attitude to Death. 
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This language has puzzled me in the past, but as I read it here, I wonder if the Buddha is saying something more like, “meditate on the earth element…; meditate on the water element…; meditate on the fire element…; meditate on the wind element…”?
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I saw a parallel passage in EA last month. It makes it more clear that earth, etc are being used as examples of how to be emotionally detached from good and bad things.
The Bhagavān told them, “What’s the parable of the raft? If you’re traveling on a road and get captured by bandits, you must get hold of your mind and thoughts without producing bad feelings. You must produce kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity that encompasses everything in all directions, that’s measureless, limitless, and indescribable. Maintain your mind as though it were the earth. Like the earth, accept what’s pure and what’s impure. Whether it’s feces, urine, trash, or ugliness, it accepts everything, and the earth doesn’t produce an uplifted or lowered mind. It doesn’t say, ‘This is lovely,’ or ‘This is terrible.’
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Perhaps not, but they might eventually see that the message of SN3.25 is not so much about toughening up but rather about softening up towards oneself and other beings asap. 
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Ah, thanks @Christopher. This is the one I was going to mention 
It’s one of my very favorite suttas and to my mind, speaks directly and practically to the quality of inner resilience in terms of mental stability and equipoise–the mind not being thrown off balance and engaging in endless proliferation. I find the similes so beautiful, and I often use them in practice, both on and off the cushion. I especially find the last one on space to be immensily helpful.
hmmm, I must not be using the quote function properly as it’s not showing up. I’m referring to your suggestion of MN62, the Buddha’s advice to Rahula.
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There’s a lot of useful references, context and reflection on this topic in venerable @sujato 's latest talk:
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Thanks so much to everyone for their help. I’ll get around to making this list properly in the next few days.
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