How can you meditate if you can't shut off your mind from thinking?

Part of meditation is to start in small chunks of time, slowly increasing... From what I have learned it's important to simply bring yourself back to the "now" or present every time your mind wanders, and it will do it all the time.... I agree practice, practice, practice....

In the beginning, you need to shut off, you need privacy, you need quiet environment. Then you need nothing. You ask yourself any difficult question, the inspired answer appears. You work on that answer and take action. Without action, meditation is mere ritual.

You will be able to meditate even though you feel you can't shut off your mind from thinking through practice and learning from a qualified teacher.

I have learned to meditate, even though I have ADHD with the help of a Yoga teacher. She has us hold a number in our mind's eye and then we use that number and count up to it and then backwards from it and everything else starts to fade away from my mind except that number and after practice I am able to get in the zone of meditation.

Practice! 10 minutes every day, you will see improvement within a month if you do it regularly. Things that seemed not to work, start to work a bit.

The object is not to "shut off" the mind. Rather you need to patiently wait as you mind drifts. When it does drift away, gently bring it back to your focus - such as your breathing - and allow it to settle, until it drifts again. Bring it back and so on. This will take time...

I find that writing is a good pre-cursor to meditation. It helps to empty your mind. Entrusting your thoughts, no matter how silly, to paper helps to clear the mind.

Finally try walking. Find a long walking path where you wont be interrupted and walk. Focus on your movement and keep it slow and steady.

well my opinion is that you dont really shut off your mind from thinking. you just concentrate on breathing until you really dont have to concen trate. you can let your mind wander then because face it your mind will wander eventually. practice! to me meditation is the wandering of the mind in a way

HI :}
meditating isunique to the indiviual ,you more then likely are overthinking it .it took me many years to find my own niche so to speak .but i have found instead of trying to make the conscious mind blank ,replace that with a scene such as a waterfall where you are swimming or a lighthouse ,cave ,whatever feels peaceful to you focus on this instead of blankness ,i believe someone else suggested this also it is what works for me ,you can even imagine it sort of like a day dream,doing something within your focus ,also if you like before you meditate prayer,or surrounding yourself with white light ,some small ritual that makes you feel comfortable ,lighting a candle .relax above all things, it is not suppose to be forced just a way to release tension ,perhaps then your subconscious will take over and you will get some inspiration .
best to you
pj :}

I havent got a clue how to answer this because i have the same problem. However the real answers are really helpful thanks to everyone who answered the question.

for me focusing on a sound outside myself will shut off thoughts.

what if you don't try to shut off your thoughts - instead try and follow one thought to its conclusion - use the focus of meditation to clarify your thoughts, and better your thinking process.

by changing -the way- you think you can come closer to the goal of meditation than by trying to force yourself to remain internally silent.

naming the various voices within can help as well :)

Let everything....just drift on through. Everything!

You can't. Use a mantra, such as "Om Namah Shivaya" to distract it like a pole would get a creeper to wind around it rather than flop around aimlessly. Then drop the pole [mantra]. Easier said than done, but MUCH easier through yoga, although with all due respect to other answerers a teacher isn't sufficient. Only a guru - a real one - can help by actually transmitting Kundalini energy to the student to promote meditation. All others are preliminary. So am I, but I DO have a real guru to measure others by.
Sitting for meditation is not meditation any more than tossing and turning in bed is sleeping.

Meditation isn't about shutting off your mind. You will always have thoughts. The mind works that way. Zen buddhists who meditate for hours a day have thoughts. It's about changing your relationship to thought and allowing the moment to be as it is. There is no good or bad meditation. There is just meditation.

When a thought enters your mind it's usually a single sentence, until you start to attach more thoughts to it. So when a thought comes in... say 'thought' in your mind and return to the silence or your noticing breathing. Whatever works best. If you try this you can make the spaces between thoughts longer. You will feel less of a need to fill the silence with mind-chatter. Good luck!