Originally Posted by The Batlord

The method I learned a decade and a half ago was just to accept that thoughts will of course occur and to label them as "just a thought" and not to assign any value to them (e.g. *thought occurs* do not think of it as a good or bad thought that you do or don't want to think but simply as a thought) and simply keep doing this for as long as you meditate. It isn't about necessarily clearing your mind but about allowing your thoughts to progress as they normally would and seeing where that leads without the interference of bull**** that encourages you to "virtue signal" to yourself and lead your thoughts down pathways that agree with how you already think you should think.