For me, meditation is a way to reset the mind. People only turn to meditation upon reaching adulthood or adolescence: no child ever feels the need to stop and focus solely on the movement of breath in and out of the body. This is logical. A child takes one day at a time. When they go to bed, that marks the end of the day. When they wake up, that marks a fresh start. A new beginning. An adult, on the other hand, does not take each day as it comes, meaning that each morning is not a new beginning so much as it is a continuation of yesterday. Responsibilities mean that adults are constantly looking to the future and therefore failing to appreciate the present day. Although going to sleep separates one day from the next it does not, unlike it does for a child, reset the mind. As such we find ourselves getting stressed as life sweeps us off our feet. There is no respite: no pause in which our minds are reset.
Meditation allows for such a reset. It provides a period in which we are not making plans for the future or dwelling on the past. Instead the meditator is wholly and exclusively experiencing the present moment. They are clearing their mind, thereby ridding themselves of stress and anxiety. When they are done, they feel refreshed. Reset. Ready to take on this next period of life with the same mind-set as a child getting out of bed.
Harry's Room 