” When it becomes possible to meditate again, meditate. If you get an idea, develop it, but without excitement. Feed your mind with reading, and if the darkness of your simple prayer becomes too much of a tension – or degenerates into torpor or sleep – relieve it with a few vocal prayers or simple affections, but do not strain yourself trying to get ideas or feel fervor. – Thomas Merton.

It’s rough out there, disturbing, frustrating, and sometimes frightening. Merton understood meditation better than anyone; I pay attention to his suggestions.