What picture does ‘meditative life’ draw in your mind? 

Is it one of a quiet, contemplative life of a hermit? Or is it a life of service and action of a large-hearted, compassionate person? Or is it a colorful picture of a life full of devotion to spiritual or religious ideals, full of poems, pilgrimages, and prayers? 

Our cultural ideas, roots, and personal inquiries would inform what a meditative life is for us as well as what ‘personal development’ and ‘spiritual growth’ mean. To each his own ...