Medivate Forum

It's interesting. I think that eating, hydrating, and other bodily functions are obviously more important. I don't know about bathing — I think because of its value to others I'd put it before meditation. And I suppose, practically, I also put my job — making money, helping team mates, etc — above meditation. The way in which it contributes to the others — the ability to eat, etc — is the logic there, though I'm not sure it's strictly that simple.
But I would rank meditation as more important to me than exercise, though not by a large margin. I really enjoying finding time to read, and write various things, but those are certainly less important to me than meditation. As are watching TV or movies, listening to music, etc.
Spending time with family and friends is an interesting and hard one for me. Practically I do my best to not have to make that specific trade-off, but if I did I can't say confidently which way I'd decide. I know that I'm better with my family and friends — better able to enjoy their company, better able to deal with potentially hard situations, etc — when I meditate. But I also know that to many of them, in many situations, my bodily presence is more important than my psychological one, and they mostly gloss over the difference. Practically I'd probably have to weigh the importance of my presence to others in a particular situation against how much value I perceive I would get from meditating for that time.