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Quieting of the mind is probably the most difficult thing we in the western world can try to do. We meditate and the brain just buzzes away. We exercise to the point of exhaustion before we can stop the chatter in our heads. We listen to noise just to stop the noise in our brain. Instead we need to try more breathing meditation.
The basic form to breathing meditation is simple: Watch the breath come in at the nose and watch it leave. Being mindful of the breath focuses our mind on breathing and allows thoughts to float away.
Some people prefer to concentrate on the end result; the abdomen. This way they can rest their hands on their belly and watch it rise and fall with the breath. Some visualize their thoughts floating away with the exhalation and diffusing into the air.
Whichever you chose watching the breath, whether it is long or short, and being mindful of it and the space between the breathes causes the mind to quiet and the thoughts to float away. Through paying attention to the breath our concentration and attention skills improve. As our mind quiets through this practice we develop more time to act within our lives. Just as we can lengthen and improve the gap and silence between out breaths and in breathes so too do we silence our mind from reactionary ways.