Why not experiement with meditation? Give yourself permission to ponder the enormity of existence and to create thoughts and feelings that will allow you to access your inner peace. Think of the process as if you were given an opportunity to write a religious text or prayer. Understand that some other human being, living centuries before, seized the opportunity to put their meditation onto paper. It became the prayer that may have inspired you in the present. Your meditation is your own personal prayer.
So meditation should be that open and flexible. Whether it is the repetition of words or phrases, or the practice of witnessing your thoughts and feelings, find what resonates with your inner being. Understand that meditation is nothing more than being with yourself. Controlling the incessant mind talk which bombards your consciousness. That is the goal of meditation. How that is accomplished is as varied as each individual.
There is no right or wrong way to meditate, merely suggestions of styles and forms. It is, afterall, the subjective experience of being in an aware state of consciousness which is the goal.
But it is not the same as a peak experience, an alternative experience, an involuntary spiritual/mystical enounter with the unknown. It is the product of your intention and requires a purposeful setting aside of time and place. It is about creating a window in time when the chaos of thought and feeling is observed to be separate from one’s own being. It is said that a full vessel cannot accept anything more. By emptying oneself of conscious thought and feeling, inspiration can enter.
It is a time when the body responds to the mind. When aware relaxation is experienced. It is a time when the stress hormones, adrenaline, cortisol and the hypothalamic peptides are subdued. BIood pressure and pulse drop, muscle tension diminshes. Our minds find themselves in an internal state of peace and happiness and these correlate with PET scan findings of the brain. It is a time when healing occurs, when our immune system regains its composure, when invading pathogens and newly minted malignant cells can be identified and destroyed.
So meditate when you can find the time, and when you can’t. Ironically the times when you can’t are the times when you should.