Stop assuming you already understand meditation! 
It's a must to get rid of the mind completely. This is where most people give up on meditation. Most beginners notice their thoughts immediately after they start meditating. Then, they say to themselves: "I'm not good at this." Then they quit. Here's the truth: having thoughts during meditation is completely normal. In fact, that's exactly what meditation works with. It is not a practice of reaching some kind of blissful empty state of mind. Meditation is simply returning your awareness again and again. Awareness itself is the training, not achieving silence. Once I heard a monk say to a person I know: "A thousand times you think, a thousand times you forget. Bring it back 10,000 times." That's the practice. Easy to understand, hard to master. There's a myth that meditation requires long sessions every day. No one really knows where this idea came from. For people with jobs and responsibilities, it makes meditation feel impossible. Short meditation sessions still work. Even short, regular sessions, there is good research that can show over time, the brain rewires the stress responses. There's nothing like consistency, which outperforms duration every time. Someone meditating 5 minutes daily will usually outperform someone doing one long session occasionally. Begin ridiculously small if you need to. Try just two minutes a day. A common belief is that meditation belongs only to religion. Meditation is a religious activity. Yes, meditation is a Buddhist, Hindu and other tradition. So does yoga. Many ordinary things we use daily have historical religious origins. Modern mindfulness practices don't require religious belief. Mindfulness is practiced in medicine, sports, and high-performance training. As a card-carrying skeptic, you can still garner a lot of benefits from the program. You can connect meditation to spirituality if that feels meaningful to you. There is no single correct way to approach meditation. You should feel at ease right away. Oh, this expectation. This sweet and utterly unattainable dream. Some meditation sessions feel boring and mentally chaotic. That's completely normal. Occasionally, meditation creates moments that are hard to describe but deeply calming. That is normal too. Meditation works similarly to exercise: progress builds gradually over time. Inner calm develops slowly through consistent practice. Think of meditation like compound interest instead of instant rewards. You Don't Need To Sit Cross-Legged: The stereotype of perfect lotus-position meditation confuses many beginners. That image mostly comes from traditional art. And it's not helped matters. Sit in a chair. Lying down is also acceptable. Walking meditation is equally valid. Walking meditation has existed for centuries as a legitimate practice. The key is staying aware and comfortable. Meditation should check my reference help your mind, not destroy your knees. Meditators are not perfectly calm all the time. Even long-time meditators get annoyed in traffic sometimes. Meditation doesn't erase human emotions. From time to time, they bite the hands of the one they love. Meditation simply helps you become more aware.