What is meditation?
Meditation, in Buddhist terms, is a way of working directly on the mind in order to change the way we think, speak and act so that we can be more in line with the true nature of reality. There are many different particular practices which can help bring about this radical change.
The three most common practices are Mindfulness of the Body, Mindfulness of Breathing and Metta Bhavana. The Metta Bhavana is a practice which leads to the development of a more positive view of not only ourselves but also towards our friends and even towards those people we don't like or have never met.
Each of these practices helps us to know ourselves more deeply and truly and live life from where we are rather than where we would like to be. Each of this practices has a specific focus of awareness so. There are also techniques tthat we can use if that awareness is lost.
As a result of these practices we will become more deeply happy and have a greater level of contentment even when what we don't want happens.