On the subject of meditation, I remember hearing an acquaintance once comment:
“Oh I tried meditating once and it didn’t work. It’s not for me.”
I thought to myself – if you sat down to try to play piano, and found that “it didn’t work”, would you give up after one go? Or would you give it time and learning and practice?
Meditation takes practise too.
As you practise sitting quietly with your breath, letting your thoughts settle and pass on by, your mind will learn to relax. You can give your mind to a break.
Sometimes I will say to my mind –
“It’s ok,
you can stand down for a while.
The world will keep on turning without you.
Your vigilance is not required.”
Meditation is exercise for the mind and spirit. Like our physical bodies, everything is better with exercise – focus, energy, digestion, stress, sleep…
And like physical exercise, it usually feels awful when you start, and improves with practise.
Crones' Chronicles 