Stop trying! That is difficult but sometimes it is deeply valuable. If you have faith in yourself, you can rely on the fact that after you stop trying, after you relax and wait and after you get into some diversion, you will bounce back. After a rest, a Sudoku, a movie, you will remember that you were trying and now it might be good to go back and try again.
When I read about trying to meditate, I know I am reading about a very valuable practice. However, I am part of a large historical group that is fascinated with trying. Trying hard. Ecclesiastes 9:10 - do it with all your might! Well, there are several kinds of might. One of them is personal confidence in yourself, that very self that you know to be iffy, somewhat washy, not always up to speed. But still, if you have a little faith in your resilience, your bounce-back-ability, you will find that when your hand and your back and your impulse are tired and you slink away to taking a break, you will become rested. Your mind will reflect on what it was that you were doing and you will remember what you were trying to do. You will try again!
Many of the comments and directions on meditating and training yourself to notice what you are doing with your attention and your mind emphasize duration. I am advocating a different tack. Amit Sood in "Mindfulness Redesigned" shows that many people, most, in fact, fail to make use of a simple procedure that can enrich their lives and their thinking. The procedure is meditation:
Sit comfortably but upright
Focus on something you can see
Keep your gaze on that something for 2, 5 or 10 minutes.
At the end of your chosen duration, stop.
The first book that I saw that did not prescribe 24 minutes or 45 minutes or more was "QR: The Quieting Reflex" by Charles Stroebel, MD. At a traffic light, waiting for the phone to be answered, in those little moments, take advantage of the chance to relax, to take a deep breath. Chade Meng Tan, Google engineer, says that he and his 2 year old both meditate for as long as a software engineer can manage, 2 minutes. Later, in "Joy on Demand" he says he knows how long it takes to benefit from deliberate, conscious awareness: one breath. It just takes a moment, especially if repeated often. Your mind and your life, you, your family and friends will benefit.
