Meditation Question

[dvdas]

I'm currently reading a million thoughts by Om Swami. I'm personally interested in a technique that is been referred in the book which the object of meditation is the sound of the breath. my question is; can you focus on a sound (example breath) when there are louder sounds around you (example cars passing) 

the sounds are not distracting, but I feel like they are overpower the sound of breath, I can barely hear my breath when cars passes. how can I concentrate in something that is not clear

Do I need to look for another technique which doesn't need hearing, or do I need to build more concentration? 

[Naviy]

Maybe this could help?

When you concentrate on a sound, you do not need to change it. You only need to concentrate on what is actually there.

If the sound is quiet and overpowered by other sounds, so be it. Keep concentrating on what is there.

So maybe you can concentrate on this quiet sound of breath even if it feels unsatisfying because you would prefer this sound to be more loud and clear.

Edited October 4, 2018 by Naviy

[PsiloPutty]

I would do the sound-focused technique when I'm in a quiet place. No point in doing it if you can't hear it. In a noisy place, I'd switch to ordinary breath-focused meditation. 

[Flammable]

Maybe you could try focusing on the noise - a technique I have found to be quite successful is actually trying to carefully pay attention to all the different sounds making up the overall noise. Then your focus is on all the different constituents and your mind does not have much time/space to dive into thoughts.