There are many approaches to this universal problem. (In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna, in effect, complains that calming the mind is like trying to tame the wind. And Lord Krishna agrees!)
The purpose of mastering our thoughts is to realize that they are not us. The very idea that we can learn to control them means that they are separate from us, but we have forgotten this.
Therefore, another practice that is very useful when control seems quite impossible is that of watching our thoughts carefully. We can become claim mastery over the mind through controling our thoughts, and can also become the witness of those thoghts, observing them dancing through the mind. Either practice requires a great effort because in either instance we must throw the light of our consciousness upon the mind.
To be a withness to the activity of the mind requires our fucus and attention. It cannot be haphazard or supperfical.
Hence either approach leads us to discover our own true nature.
