Meditation is the practice of focusing your thought process, most often for the purpose of introspection and attaining greater internal awareness. Through meditation you learn to determine where your attention goes. Meditation sharpens your concentration and your ability to think. people often complain that meditation is difficult for them because stopping thought seems impossible. The goal should not be to stop thought, but rather to learn to focus your thoughts. As you become adept at focusing your mind on things you want, the other, unwanted thoughts will automatically taper off. Until then, noticing your thoughts wandering and bringing your attention back to whatever you are focusing on is simply a part of the training process.
Your brain has a limited attentional capacity, meaning it has the power to consciously focus on a limited number of things at one time. The more focused tasks you give your brain to do, the less room there will be for intrusive thoughts.
-Jennice Vilhauer, PhD, in Think Forward to Thrive
