Meditation is the most important thing in the long run, even though at times it can seem like the least important. It is important because it allows you an opportunity to have a rest from all the burdensome duties and responsibilities that you have. It allows you to let go of things, to take time out during the day to just stop and watch yourself. It helps you to observe the obsessions you might be feeling - all the energies and emotions, the restlessness, the doubts, and the worries - rather than be absorbed in them. Meditation, if done correctly, helps you to stop following these mental conditions and to begin noticing them. It allows you to let them be as they are, to let go of them. When this happens, meditation becomes something you look forward to, like a good meal. It is something you really enjoy doing because it gives you a chance to break the compulsive cycles in which you can get caught, in your daily life.

Ajahn Sumedho
The Mind and the Way
Buddhist Reflections on Life