“Our way is not to sit to acquire something; it is to express our true nature.”
– Shunryu Suzuki in Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
When you think you are meditating in order to get something, for example peace, happiness or enlightenment, this is not meditation but instead strengthens your mistaken impression that you exist as a separate being and that there is something separate from you that you need to get. The result is increased tension and discomfort.
When you are fully aware that you are simply what you are, It becomes clear that there is in practice nothing to get, nobody to get it and no getting occurring. Then the imagined separation is absent and only unconditional peace and happiness remain.
Three things may help you to cultivate this so that it happens more often:
Find a good teacher who can point out this place of awareness to you consistently
Spend time with people that support you in this work
Take some time every day to sit quietly
The rest happens naturally involving no special effort.