Hey there, @scienceblocks. I am not a meditation person, either. I have never managed to "empty" my mind. However, I have never truly tried to meditate or dedicate to it (like doing it every day for a year for example).

Mindfulness meditation is a lot more easy to do, though. You focus on the current moment and you actually have what to think about - "the now". :)
My husband is really really skeptic about ... well, everything. Seriously, he is a living example of the nocebo effect. I will write an article about it some day :D But! mindfulness works fine for his skeptic mind :D

I have also tried progressive muscle relaxation. It is really easy to do and helps a lot, especially when you feel anxious or angry.

What I am curious about is between individuals who reaped benefit of meditation vs those who did not - is there a difference between how they describe the experience of meditation.

I haven't researched this. I will give it a look :D

I liked how you described mania there!

Oh, you saw what I was referring :P Nothing could be kept secret from the scientific mind :D

Thanks for leaving such a nice comment! :D