Fifty years ago I learned to meditate with the object being "clearing the mind" and heading toward "enlightenment".
Seated cross-legged (the lotus positon ideally), eyes closed (focused upward toward third eye), hands resting on lap with palms upward and thumbs and forefinger touching, paying attention to breathing, possibly chanting a mantra, gave the experience of prompting the body as the tool for Self realization.
It was an exciting time, the Sixties, with so many looking eastward on a spiritual journey: I travelled to India twice during that time.
The adventure, on many levels, has persisted across a lifetime. Awareness expands us and offers the challenge to move along. The quest for Self realization became Self/self realization.
Meditation - attempts to control the mind using the mind - brought interesting results across many years.
And then an epiphany occured: I realized that if one kept the spine straight, did three relaxing breaths, and then 'inhabited the body', the meditative state happened immediately and effortlessly. It was not trying to make it happen but letting it happen; providing the situation. And that state was .... beyond words.
Mindfulness is the keyword nowadays. And "that state" is called "touching the moment" or "living in the Now/now" or "going with the flow" or "being in the state of grace".
There are many books on mindfulness and how to practice it and the benefits of paying attention in all aspects of life. Anywhere, anytime.
I like it when examples are given.
Here is one of mine. Every spring, when forsythia bushes would burst into bloom I would feel overwhelmed with joy at their appearance and sadness at the knowing they would only last so long. My mind told me it was inevitable and rather silly to somewhat spoil the pleasure of the present with what would happen in the future. It was as if I was not experiencing them enough. One day - and to me a true mystery of the universe is what prompts such action! - I simply stood in front of the forsythia bush that was a block or so away from my home in Toronto and stared. Stared and stared and stared. Paid attention, I guess. Perhaps did a Siddhartha under the banyan tree. Left off thinking for feeling. Inhabited the body. Resonated with that forsythia. Whatever it was, whatever happened - it worked! Something was satisfied. Somehow I gained 'eternal' forsythia flowering. And the experience has served me well in other ways since then.
This is an exciting time!