Sometimes people think that contemplation is an exercise outside their reach and intended only for unique individuals.
But the truth of the matter is that the ability to engage in contemplation exists in everyone, though not necessarily with regard to contemplating the greatness of God.
Focusing and concentrating one’s thoughts on an abstract topic for a sustained period of time is a difficult feat for anyone.
But as a general rule, anyone can direct his thoughts at will.
Everyone, before falling asleep, engages in this kind of contemplation, during which he is not thinking about his affairs and problems.
If this were not so, he would not fall asleep.
Each person also engages in contemplation that engenders and intensifies his character.
For example, everyone who gets angry is engaging in this form of contemplation, since, if he were to cease ruminating on whatever is making him angry, his anger would be fleeting and dissipate.
But when he repeatedly contemplates that situation and reconstructs it in his mind, thinking about how he was wronged, how unfair it was, and what he and others thought about the incident, he forms a seed of anger that grows the more he continues focusing on what happened.
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz