Not too long ago I started meditating,  and I can say that it definitely is something should do if they have some time on their hands! :)

As a beginner at first I had a hard time, but that was simply because I have too much on my mind. It actually is pretty easy and everyone should be able to do it!
Benifits of meditating I experience:

• Objectively reflecting on events, which is very useful when you have a hard time with someone or simply had a fight with someone.
• Having a clearer mind.
• Being calmer and more relaxed, which also leads to being able to concentrate better/longer.

Though by no means is this supposed some Guide or 'generic activity - 101', I'm simply telling about my experience and I believe that my personal "How to" would be very helpful to understanding it.
Therefore here is my personal "How to":

• Position yourself however you feel most comfortable, don't force yourself into any of those "famous" meditating positions.
• Be somewhere silent, if you have no access to a silent place use earplugs, I'm not sure about others but at least I do not feel them anymore after a few minutes if I inserted them in a good way.
• Empty your mind, or just concentrate on a single thought, which is also what I do. I concentrate on my breathing and how air fills my lungs and how they empty again. You can just as well use a mantra like "ommmm" or "caaaakkkeeeee" if it helps you. ;)
• It doesn't matter if your eyes are closed or opened, personally I like my eyes half-opened, like that my eyes won't tear up because i have them closed (not sure if only I have that problem...) and I don't get too distracted by seeing everyting clearly.
• Start with short meditation times and slowly raise the time each session. I started with merely 5 minutes and after a month I now reached as far as 30 minutes without any problems of minding the time or worrying about anything.

Now this is important! When I say "empty your mind" I dont mean for you to reject all the thoughts that pop up in your mind, accept them "inside" and just let your brain think them through and lead them "outside". Now this step currently happens on autopilot for me (finally).

In our daily lives our brains are hard at work and it keeps sending signals through our synapses, but when doing so alot of signals that aren't needed keep getting send too, these will naturally build up over a time. Naturally they DO NOT stay forever, but just as many stop being send around, new ones are created by daily input.
Now here maditation comes in, by closing most of our input our brain has a time other than sleep to work on all the information input we have, therefore it will have an easier time working afterwards!

Having a hard time maditating?

Well I suppose there are some habits that help with it and some that do the opposite. As I am not an epxpert these might be wrong unlike my purely subjective points above, so feel free to tell me if anything is wrong with this list.

Habits with a positive impact on meditation difficulty:

• Drinking alot of water
• Drinking tea
• Moderatly consuming whatever is hidden within those cookies/brownies of yours
• Sports
• Creative activities

Habits with a negative impact on meditation difficulty:

• Drinking more than 1-2 cups of coffee a day
• Too many Energy Drinks
• Overly unhealthy diet
• "Bad" drugs and too much of the "not so bad" ones too

Follow @tb-illsyore