Learning to meditate is like training a puppy to sit in one spot.

You resolve to focus on your breath and, usually pretty quickly, your mind wanders, like the puppy getting up to go sniff a bug wandering by.

You go to the puppy and lead it back to its spot just as you bring your attention back to the breath.

Again, the puppy wanders, again your mind starts thinking of lunchtime and again you bring it back.

The practice isn’t in keeping your mind clear of thoughts, the real strength of the practice is learning to recognize when you’ve wandered off and resolving again to come back to the present moment.

The goal of meditation isn’t to have a mind free of thoughts. For humans, that is a near impossibility.

The goal of meditation is to watch your thoughts and not react to them or engage with them.

The goal for the puppy is to sit and watch the bugs walk by.