I'm by no means an expert, but "Mindfulness in Plain English" was the most helpful text in getting me started. There are several places to read it free online or download a PDF. E.g. http://www.mindfulvalley.org/files/books/mindfulness_plain_e...

To the original poster, I'm not so sure meditation would be the cure-all for all of the problems mentioned. I could see it helping with calming a mind overflowing with ancient "context". But the author indicated that this manifests more as slowness than with anxiety.