Quote Originally Posted by Acala View Post
Meditation certainly can change the way you relate to the world and to other people. For example, it is very common to find yourself becoming much less judgemental, more tolerant, and more appreciative. This will not happen overnight, but when it happens it will be permanent.
Meditation creates a balance, and a deeper understanding of the way things are. It will help you in your daily life, and you will slowly start to evolve into a more spiritual being.

Quote Originally Posted by Acala View Post
A good place to start is with the book "Mindfulness in Plain English" by a guy whose name I can't pronounce or spell.
Venerable Henepola Gunaratana is the name of the Buddhist monk who wrote this book on Vipassana meditation practice, a style of meditation that claims "the purpose of this system is to give the meditator insight into the nature of reality and accurate understanding of how everything works."

Here is the link to the online book. It's really well-written, and very enjoyable. Reading it may help you figure out the answers to some of the questions you have!

http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html