In the beginning, you’re doing two things: One, you’re trying to stay with the breath; and two, you’re trying to wean the mind off its attraction to its distractions.

"Try to stay focused on the breath, wherever you feel it most vividly. If you don’t know where it’s most vivid, take a couple of good, long, deep in-and-out breaths. Let it calm down until it feels just right — not too heavy to be comfortable, but not so light that you can’t follow it.

And don’t put too much pressure on it; don’t put too little pressure on it. The Buddha’s image is of a person holding a baby chick in his hand. If you squeeze the chick too tightly, it’s going to die. If you hold it too loosely, it’s going to fly away. So try to keep tabs on the breath with just the right amount of pressure.

If you catch the mind wandering off, just bring it back. No matter how many times it’s going to wander off in the course of the hour, bring it back, bring it back. Each time you come back, reward yourself with a breath that feels really gratifying, because you want to get the mind to feel good about being here so it’ll be more likely to settle in and wander off less.

The less the mind wanders, the more subtle things you’ll be able to see. You begin to see when there’s the beginning of a stirring that it’s going to go out. You can breathe right through it, right in time so that you don’t have to leave. You don’t have to come back. You’re right here. Then you’ll be able to see subtle movements of the mind even more clearly — and even more subtle movements as the mind settles down more deeply. This is the whole point of concentration practice: You want to see what you’re doing.

In the beginning, you’re doing two things: One, you’re trying to stay with the breath; and two, you’re trying to wean the mind off its attraction to its distractions. Then, as you settle in, it’s more of just what you’re doing right now, i.e., staying with the breath."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Insight Is Seeing What’s Worth Doing"