http://forum.earlyretirementextreme.com/viewtopic.php?t=5188&p=74622#p74622

I'm also kinda curious as to what the use [of meditation] is. In particular, will meditation give me superpowers or is it simply the solution to a problem I don't have.

I used to have an internal dialogue going at all times. Then I successfully experimented with turning it off simply by stopping the train of thought and "thinking about nothing" whenever I did my long walks (commute). I've fixed my breathing and my "hockey vision" (useful for walking faster than everybody else and not bumping into cell phone zombies) in the same way. Later I tried to switch from thinking in spoken language to geometric and numerically intuitive ways with some success. I let my intuition solve most larger problems and it's simply a question of waiting for inspiration to come. That is, set up the environment [by uploading the facts] and then sit and wait for the quarry to walk by [the solution] and shoot it [formulate it actively].---Rather than trying to farm for it. 

Consequentially, I can't really relate to the "calming the mind" ... maybe it's because it's already calm?