I think that it is a question that you should not really worry too much about at this point. Why do I say this? Because you can’t control your thoughts. I will repeat that again in, it is really hard to control your thoughts. Is it possible to get to a point of silence where you are experiencing just the present moment? Yes I think that is very possible to get to the point but you can’t force it. It just sort of happens, it will happen when you least expect it. When you first start to practice meditation you could go for a period of 6 months to a year where when you meditate you are not able to get to a point of silence.
The Buddists think that by just focusing on the passing of the breath this will help to hasten a state of silencing the mind. In that whenever you become aware of the fact that you are not focused your breath you should gentley bring your thoughts back to the present moment. You don’t have to force yourself back to the breath but just be aware that you are lost in a thought and that you can just ever so gently finish that thought and come back to focusing on your breath. This is one way to manuver yourself to state of silence, another way I find is that you just sit down on the couch and with your eyes closed or open and then you just deal with the thoughts as they are and after a period of time you may or may not reach a state of silence.
If your goal is to quiet the mind than you need to just keep at it and maybe you might one day quiet the mind but don’t beat yourself. Just remember that the goal of meditation is a gradual quieting of the mind.