Meditiate

When I think of meditation, people sitting cross-legged comes pretty well immediately to mind.  It seems it does for others too.  I looked it up on Wikipedia and it had six pictures.  The first three were people sitting cross legged while the next three showed someone kneeling in prayer, a Stoic and a group of Muslims gathered in a group praying.
The reason I see so many Budda’s for sale makes some sense to me now.   Often even when the roots of something is not acknowledged, or believed to play no part in a practice, it just seems natural to gravitate to its foundation.
I believe in and practice meditation.  It is not the cross-legged sort, but the person on their knees praying sort.  I must confess I am not on my knees often.  It does happen, but for me it is less about the position then the attitude.
I do believe it is important I empty my mind of negativity and distractions.  Distractions like the shopping list, or what I need to do, are not conducive to specifics. 
Emptying my mind is a bridge too far.   Emptying something is one thing – what it is filled with is what I am interested in.  I saw a psychologist at one time, and he seemed very disappointed when I would not surrender to hypnosis.  I know they were well meaning but surrendering control of my personality is a thing I choose.  I am sure things can be revealed, but I choose other ways to have them revealed.
I have been doing a bit of a study on meditation, and many things have been an eye opener to me.  I agree with Wikipedia that “Scholars have found meditation difficult to define, as practices vary both between traditions and within them.”  I do not agree with Wikipedia when it talks about meditation going back to the 12th century.  I know it goes a lot further back than that.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines meditation as “the act of giving your attention to only one thing”.   The Colins English Dictionary has a couple of definitions “the act of remaining in a silent and calm state for a period of time…” and, “the act of thinking about something very carefully and deeply for a long time”
I am very much into meditation within the confines of those definitions.  I reckon many problems can be avoided if I have a good, considered think about something before acting.  I am more ambiguous about something that is a real buzz word these days and that is mindfulness.  To me it is a worthy goal, but it has found a place in our culture as a substitute.  Just because something is popular, does not mean it is right.
Like everything really, I will go with what light I have.  Others have their own thoughts.  I will just walk the road using my light.