You wrote: “During meditation and also during the day when I am aware of the breath, there is a feeling of calm and contentment, how am I able to experience that if so much is happening in the mind. Or is the mind of a meditator not as active as a non meditator..”
Our minds are agitated due to so many arammana running through the mind even in a short time. This is why “multi-tasking” is stressful.
– Most people are attracted to breath-meditation because it calms down the mind. The reason is very simple: Mind now has only one arammana, the breath!
However, that itself does not do ANYTHING to cultivate the Path. One needs to calm the mind AND THEN contemplate on Dhamma concepts (and learn) or contemplate on the anicca nature (unfruitfulness of craving worldly things) once the anicca concept is understood.
So, it is OK to calm down the mind by initially focusing on the breath for a short time. But it is foolish to keep doing that for hours! Complete waste of precious time!