Concentration

My mind cannot NOT think. To focus, the mind needs a "stick" to hold.

There once was a logger in India. His constant companion was the elephant with whom he worked. On payday they went together to collect the money they had earned that week.

As they passed the stalls in the marketplace, the elephant's swinging trunk would knock down a pot here, spill a basket of fruit there. By the time they were paid, a good part of the money was already gone.

The logger could not punish his friend. The elephant had not been misbehaving, he was simply being himself. The logger ask a wise man standing nearby what he could do to get home with a little money in his pocket.

After a moment, the old man stooped and picked up a stick which he gave to the elephant to hold. The logger and his friend got all the way out of town without incident.

Concentration is the way to discipline the mind to prepare for meditation. Concentration is selecting an idea or an image or a sound and allowing the mind to focus entirely on that. If the mind "drops the stick", that is neither good nor bad. Simply pick it up again and continue the period of concentration.