Nirvana is the highest goal in Buddhism, the complete eradication of suffering. Of course, few of us are likely to attain this in our lifetimes, but by practising meditation daily, focusing on the elements described above—sila, samadhi, and panna—we can bring ourselves closer to nirvana, reducing our craving, and thereby reducing our suffering. The trouble with using meditation to achieve more specific goals than this is that by establishing such goals—finding our ideal partner or job or book deal—we are in fact increasing our craving and thereby increasing our suffering, moving, in other words, in the opposite direction to nirvana. If we are to use meditation correctly, meaning, in the manner that the Buddha intended us to, then perhaps the only goal we can hope for in 2019 is to suffer less, to become happier. Achieving this goal often means letting go of others, ones we hoped would make us happy but actually led us in the other direction. This is why I believe it is difficult to use meditation to achieve any other goals besides developing our wisdom and compassion, because most other goals tend to be projections of our egos. In fact, the teachings tell us we don’t need anything else to be happy; all we need to do is let go.