what is the point or goal of meditation

Self-realization? What does that mean?

Enlightenment? What does that mean?

Meditation for me is for relaxation and energy work. 

What energy do you work with?

My own, Earth, plants. I do grounding, centering and meditation so I can move energy around and into things to charge them or to do spell work. Like moving energy from the chakras up or down. 

Purifying the heart.

If it is done properly, at least. That is really the intent.

We Orthodox call it hesychastic prayer, Hesychastic meaning "stillness".

And as Jesus rebuked the storm and calmed the sea, so does The Truth calm the ragings of the soul. 

Interestingly enough, in Greek another way of refering to the soul is "Sea of emotions".

How is it done properly?

I would say that knowing the intent is a good start!

Really, if you are mindful, it practically shows you on its own. 

The biggest foe is pride. If it helps, look at yourself alone as being truly wicked and perverse. Strange as that may seem, it does help. It is very easy for someone who has made a lot of progress to think they are something. This in itself is also a type of defilement of the heart that nudges us off the mark.

But yeah, knowing the intent might be the most important thing.

The goal of the hesychast is to eventually pray unceasingly, that is, to always be mindful of God. Jesus did say, "blessed are the pure in heart, they will see God". That being the case, heart purification should be a lifelong practice. 

That's good. what's next? How exactly do you do it? do you use a parayer, or is your meditation completely silent?

A prayer that is usually recommended is "Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

That one has been popular among monastics for quite a long time.

You said you did meditation before what issue are you having with getting back into it if you can say.

It is very extensive to just tell you what they mean. Self actualizing is understanding yourself. Most importantly, understanding your ego. Knowing what your positives are and what your negatives are. Knowing when you are being humble and when you are not. You also learn, in meditation, what traps are. You know when your ego is trapping you and you learn to shut it down. Then, in combination with enlightenment, you go on another level of self-actualization. That can be different depending on you bc you will realize your experience is your experience and you sort of step out of your body and realize your journey through the eyes of the universe. Enlightenment, you break out of societal norms and look at the world as a whole, look at your journey as a whole... that you are the eternal driver. That you are not bound by anything. You start to clearly see things, you spiritual beliefs, society, the people around you... you see them as what they are. Enlightenment is basically understanding that you are nothing and you are everything. It's like you are darkness that just realized you can turn on the lights. And once you do, darkness can never be true for you again since it can never beat light... your true self that isn't bound to anything in this world. It becomes you against the world instead of the world working for you. Then in my experience, you realize this world is just an illusion. That you are part of an infinite consciousness and that you created yourself. That you are everyone and everything.