What is your best tip for meditation?

I got carried away answering the above question in a facebook group I belong to. Meditation and prayer are such an important part of my life, I wanted to share the full essay here.

For me, there is often no difference between prayer and meditation and many sages and prophets have talked about making everything into a prayer or meditation. I practice different kinds of meditation throughout the day and try to make many events during the day a meditation.

 Since I've begun practicing SRI seriously, each day when I wake up I center and connect to myself with Stage One and then I do one of my Kundalini yoga meditations.
When I am walking on grass, in the sand or sea water I make a practice of being grateful.  While swimming,  I unite my movement and breath with a Sufi mantra.  The practice of moving to mantra has been called "Celestial Communication" byYogi Bhajan. Native peoples all over the world have danced as a method of prayer and trance-dance is considered a form of meditation. When I used to perform as a dancer or play drums for kirtans, it was simply becoming one with the the music, surrendering to the vibration. The experience of being one with the music, whether spinning Dervish-style or connecting in some other way to music can transport me to a place of incredible unity--where there is no time, no "me."  As a ceramicist, becoming one with the clay as I knead it, work on the wheel, decorate it and let it speak to me is another one of my meditation practices.
*The beautiful collage for this post was created by Shawn McSweeny.