I saw your thread about meditation, thought I might be able to give you some ideas. Meditating is kind of like riding a bicycle, once you get the "feel" for it, it becomes easier. Doing "empty mind" meditation without any um, training wheels, so to speak, is tough. It's literally jumping into the deep end of the pool. I find guided meditations much easier for beginners, there's tons of free stuff out there places like this: Audio Dharma - Guided Meditations I also think this is an awesome site for beginners: Learn how to meditate, guided meditation CDs, free audios, podcast, blog, instructions And if you really want to get a feel for what you're shooting for download the Meditation Level 1 free download here The Meditation Solution and give that a concentrated listen -- really give yourself 30 uninterrupted minutes to listen to the piece. As for the unwanted thoughts intruding, it's practice but the big thing is you mentally go "yep, I see you there, move along." At first your brain is going to throw a ton of crap at you, giving it one thing to focus on -- like thinking "IN" while you breath in, "OUT" when you breath out -- kind of shuts it up.