what's the simplest & most efficient way to shut the mind up?

[son of light]

what's the simplest & most efficient way to shut the mind up without drugs and/or devices?  Thanks!

[AmbientSound]

Put all your attention on the present moment.

[no_leaf_clover]

All the desires that would cause thoughts to arise in the first place have to be sufficiently conquered.

For example, when I was younger I used to always try to clear my mind, but would simultaneously be worried about not being able to clear my mind.  That pretty much makes it impossible to clear your mind, because I was slightly "concerned" (had a desire).  And obviously you can't do both at once.

A more blatant example would be if you're pretty hungry.  Hard to forget about that but at least the hunger gives you a feeling to focus your attention on I guess.

[Tayesin]

Your chattering mind is not the problem, it is only a symptom.

It is a symptom of non-focusing.

Don't waste your time and effort trying to quieten the mind so that you can focus on something else.

Just focus now on what you intend. After practicing this for about 30 days you will have retrained the mind to focus and ignore the chatter.

I often tell people to practice focusing by purposely thinking about what they are doing NOW. For instance, if you are making a coffee then focus on your actions... I am adding water, adding sugar, etc and everytime the mind wanders off into past/future just remind yourself about what you are doing in that moment.

It's all about NOW.

Now is all you really have, so focus on it.

[SuperManny]

If a particularly persistent thought won't go away, maybe your mind is trying to get through to you. In cases like this, sometimes it helps to keep a pad of paper and pen handy, and just jotting it down will often release it.

[Kyrin Blair]

Shotgun.

JUST KIDDING!!!

Probably the place to start is getting everything that might be on your mind, off it. Like SuperManny said, writing is great catharsis. You want to give your mind every reason not to think about stuff, just have things squared away.

Be physiologically balanced. Often times I've found that if I hit the right combination of the right food in my stomach, the right hydration level, a certain amount of sleep (a little on the sleep deprived side), I'm the right temperature, and I turn on the trance music, my mind just goes OFF. And I'm a total scatterbrain so when it does this it's usually a big deal for me (though at that point in time I'm too chill to make it a big deal )

Music is a device, BUT the way my mind runs, it pretty much needs something to 'chew on' at all times. The make-everything-shut-up meditation is usually very unproductive for me, like when I slip into the trance mentioned above, I have very little magickal potence. It just kinda stabilizes my thought patters, I guess. If you're dead set on doing it without music, go for it, just that compared to things such as drugs to achieve the same effect, it has more benefit and almost no side effects.

The only side effect is that it's a 'crutch'.

[kislany]

For me what works while meditating is, at the beginning, when many thoughts come invariably to my mind, I simply acknowledge them and say to them 'later'. To each and every thought or worry, 'later'. For example, a thought of 'have to call mom' - I say 'later'. Then another thought comes up 'forgot to send that email at work to the client'. I say 'later'. And because I say later, I know that I will pick up these thoughts when the meditation is over, so for the moment I stop worrying about them.
After a few minutes (can be 5, 10, or more, depending), the thoughts are coming with less frequency and the chit chat slows down and eventually stops. That's what works for me, anyway.

[interception]

what's the simplest & most efficient way to shut the mind up without drugs and/or devices?  Thanks!

An untrained, undisciplined mind will be rather stubborn at first. A simple way to train the mind is to concentrate on two things at the same time for as long as possible.
For example you may focus on the sensation of your breathing while also counting in your mind each inhalation/exhalation. Play with holding complex shapes in your minds eye or focus on a sound in your environment. Whatever works for you. As soon as your mind starts to drift bring it gently back to the two things you are focusing on.

Eventually your mind will submit to your will and you will be able to "silence" it by focusing on only one thing and so on... the key, as with most things, is consistency.

[Tayesin]

An untrained, undisciplined mind will be rather stubborn at first. A simple way to train the mind is to concentrate on two things at the same time for as long as possible.
For example you may focus on the sensation of your breathing while also counting in your mind each inhalation/exhalation. Play with holding complex shapes in your minds eye or focus on a sound in your environment. Whatever works for you. As soon as your mind starts to drift bring it gently back to the two things you are focusing on.

Eventually your mind will submit to your will and you will be able to "silence" it by focusing on only one thing and so on... the key, as with most things, is consistency.

Very well said Interception. Thank You. 

[kurai kokoro]

i'll try your tech Tayesin focusing on my breathing and counting is hard for me, besides it sounds more right to me, "I have a bad feeling about this master," "something close?" "no something different, something... elsewhere." "focus your thoughts on the here and now where it belongs padawan." ~Obi-Wan Kenobi to Qui-Gon-Jin.~ and i'm glad to see a topic such as this on the forum thanks. (bows in respect)