My mind is always busy, lost in thought. How do I quieten it?

This is very common to think when starting out with meditation. Firstly, there is no need to get rid of thoughts; this is not the purpose of meditation. The point is to let your mind rest in the present moment and we do this by redirecting out thoughts to one thing that is IN the present moment and every time we bring our focus to that focal point we strengthening our mind and focus. Instead of quietening the mind being the focus, let focus itself be the objective and things will then naturally become quiet. Here are several suggestions which can help to steady attention:

• Commit to not judging the arising of thinking. Rather, respond to thoughts and when you catch yourself wandering off with acceptance and humor.

• You can experiment by giving your busy, lost-in-thought-mind a way to cooperate with being present by silently whispering “Breathing in 1” with the in-breath. “Breathing out 1” with the out-breath. Follow with “Breathing in 2”, “Breathing out 2” up to 8, then counting backwards to one. The words are pointers to the direct feeling of the in-breath and out-breath connecting the mind and the body to steady and calm the mind. You can experiment with the words and pacing that work for you.

• Just like a body of water stirred up by the winds, after being physically still for a while, your mind will gradually calm down.