Meditate anyone?

I really dunno wat to name my blog. My source of influences came from Hinduism, Buddhism and Daoism, so Oriental seems to be the best word.
I realised that in a dim environment can a person enter deep meditation easier. Bright lights seem to make it difficult to enter the Alpha state and deeper. That's why the ancients always meditate in caves. But don't meditate in complete darkness too as u tend to get sleepy too. Moderation is the key.
Silence is extremely important in meditation. My Daoist teacher always emphasize the need to find a room that is very quiet to do cultivation practices. And practice only begins after 11pm coz most pple r asleep. Quiet......But how to find such a quiet place when most pple in urban cities stay close together?
Earplugs, my friends, earplugs...........wat a great invention for the meditators.Now we dun hv to hide in the mountains to get the serenity, yipee...
Very very effective to use earplugs when meditating, coz i dun get to hear my mum nagging at my niece which can be very distracting.
I tried blindfolding myself to shut out the lights when i meditate but it was a hindrance in effect. i can't off the lights in my room coz my family members may wonder wat im doing inside. Since we need to maintain our eyes to be half-closed only and blindfolding will force u to shut them totally, it will make u sleepy after a while instead. So forget abt this method to shut out the lights
My lotus pose is giving my left ankle abit of problem, so i changed it a little and it works. I tucked the outer edge of my left little toe in between the gap of my right thigh and calf, just behind the knee. By the way, i sit with the left leg folded in first, the right leg is folded on the outside.

Time to talk abt Mantras.
I think i'm super greedy coz i can't decide which mantra to recite. I want all the powers and effects but all the mantras need undivided attention in their sadhana. These are the mantras that I recite:
Gayatri Mantra
Great Compassion Mantra (Mahakaruna Dharani)
Lakshmi Bija Mantra
Cunde Bodhisattva Mantra
I chant the Lakshmi mantra around 100 to 200 times daily. the Cunde Mantra throughout the day. The rest throughout the day whenever i can.
The Lakshmi mantra dun seem to be working coz my financial situation is still crappy even though i have recited 26,540 times. Must be that my bad money karma debt is heavy and the mantra's power have not neutralised it (not intense enuff due to the small number of times i have chanted it).