I think I know what the issue might have been with your problems with meditation.

Meditation is not necessarily about ceasing thought and or clearing the mind - rather it starts with being able to sit with your thoughts and allow them to happen without latching on to one thought or another thought. You might not know this - in fact alot of people think meditation is about calming the mind, and it is - but the way to go about it is to recognize the thoughts, acknowledge them, but then let them go! Do not latch on to a thought and follow it and grasp at more ideas as to that thought. Let your mind be free, and think of your thoughts as a flowing river - they are constantly changing. This takes practise, and sometimes it is more difficult for some people than others.

Trying to stop thoughts is IMPOSSIBLE. We are always thinking about something - this is just the way our minds are made to work. So rather than clearing the thoughts, try this:

-Sit comfortably with your legs crossing one another, indian style.
-imagine a string coming from the center of the top of your head, and imagine if someone pulled that string straight up. This pulls you into proper posture. you may find this hard at first, investing in a good meditation pillow may help. If thats not for you or you have posture or back problems, or if you find it difficult and uncomfortable, then sit in a chair with your feet shoulder width apart and flat on the floor. In either position, place your hands so that they lay palms down on your thighs - should be almost at your knees and should look something like this:


This woman chooses to place her hands on her knees, and this is fine too, you can do either depending on what is most comfortable for you.

-Focus on your in breath. Notice that it is soft, and gentle, and you probably can barely feel it. If you cannot feel it enough to focus, use the out-breath until you get some practise. be "with" your breath - place your focus on the breath. If you have thoughts, that is ok! Let the thoughts happen, but don't grasp on to them or hold on to them. Just go back to focusing on your breath.

-start with 2 minutes. Do that for a week. Move on to 5 minutes. Do that for a week or two, or however long it takes for you to get comfortable with sitting that long. Some people take ages(took me years to get up to 30 min - not kidding! My brain is like yours very active) and some people can start right off on 30 min. DO NOT push yourself to sit there longer than you feel comfortable with.

-if you feel yourself getting to distracted, get up, stretch, get a glass of water, take a few breaths of fresh air out the front door. DO NOT do anything distracting, like television, radio, music, computer, ect. DO do things that are very natural and compassion based - give your spouse a hug, pet your animal.. do things that connect you with the world around you in a very positive and compassionate manner. And then, sit again and re-try.

It may take you a while to be able to do this - and that is ok! its not about rushing to be able to sit for six hours or 3 years like some of the tibetan monks. Everyone starts somewhere. Just bring your focus back to the breath.