How do I control my mind when I meditate?

Meditation as we offer it at Ten Percent Happier is not about controlling the mind. When we meditate we’re often instructed just to be mindful of the flow of different experiences: the breath coming in and out of the body, physical sensations coming and going, sounds arising and passing away, thoughts and emotions coming up in the mind and then disappearing. We don’t need to do anything with this flow of experience, including trying to control or change it. We're just practicing staying mindful of it exactly as it is, seeing our experience clearly.

One of the things we can learn from meditation is that although we might not control our thoughts, we DO have some control over how we relate to our thoughts. For example, if you notice an unhelpful thought and can see it as just a thought and not buy into it, then you're learning how to use mental processes in a skillful way.