"In other words if you had an important business presentation would you mediatate about that or is that something entirely different because it's work related and might be stressful?" - chuff

Affirmations and visualisation would work better in this situation. Use visualisation to imagine the best possible outcome and affirmations to put yourself in the right frame of mind.

"When you meditate are you supposed to think about "nothing" and have a blank mind?" - chuff

I enjoy reading and being involved in Zen Forums. From what I can gather it is not important what you do or how you do it just that you do it. Even with meditation... I'm not great at it but it makes me feel good to simply do it to the best of my ability.

A new student, struggling to get the hang of meditating, asked the Zen Master for some advice. The Zen Master said, "When you feel hungry you eat. When you feel thirsty you drink. When you feel tired you sleep."

Now I don't know for sure but I think what he means is... Just do it!

Personally, I gave up many, many times because I didn't think I was doing it right. Then I discovered there is no right or wrong. We just do it. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. But the more you do it the better you feel.

"That being said, if your trying and saying positive things to yourself, how do you ignore any other thoughts creeping in?" - chuff

You're mixing them up. We have Relaxation, Meditation, Visualisation and Affirmation. Relaxation, Visualisation and Affirmations can be used together. But Meditation should be done on its own. Cultivating positive thinking is something that can be done during relaxation and visualisation, using affirmations to re-enforce the concept. And any thoughts that 'creep in' can be converted to positive thoughts or simply ignored.

"Given the example above, can you just say my other thoughts are going into a box for now and that works without other thoughts?" - chuff

I've never tried the box thing. I'm a bit bossy. I demand 'No distractions!' I begin by asking 'whatever (the Universe?)' for some 'free from thoughts time'. This doesn't mean they just go away. I don't need them to go away I just need them to leave me alone for half an hour.

If I do become overwhelmed with pesky thoughts I accept that there is something that I may need to take care of if I'm to enjoy my next session.

It isn't rocket science from where I stand. I know what I want to do, sometimes it works out okay and sometimes it doesn't - I just do it!

And finally…

"My mind jumps all over the place and I don't know that I can sit and not think about nothing." - chuff

Then don't. Just sit with your eyes closed for five minutes at a time to begin with. And instead of struggling to control your thoughts wait for them to realise that they are not going anywhere until you are done with your meditation so they might as well just get used to the idea. Try to see troublesome thoughts as troublesome children... We ignore bad behaviour and reward good behaviour. We ignore troublesome thoughts and finish a good session with a thank you for the peace you were allowed to feel.


Hope all that made sense. Bottom line, just do what you are comfortable with, and sit a little longer each session. It takes time but the more relaxed you become the quieter your thoughts become. You just have to force the issue a little in the beginning.

You'll know when you are ready for something a little more sophisticated.