Thoughts slamming me.

It seems my most success with this stuff is when my mind gets so clustered with thoughts and images, and I make up scenarios during naps in the day when I am VERY tired. It seems like whenever I am very tired, I mean to the point to where all you want to do is sleep... most of my results happen. It's so hard to AP if you aren't tired.

This happen with anyone else?

It seems "Shutting down your mind" seems to be the problem for me. I will get some sensations but nothing like when I am goofy tired, and my mind is racing.

You don't need to shut down your mind. You can think all you like until you get to the point of 'almost ready'. Then you can either observe yourself thinking and let it go, or ignore (not suppress) your thoughts and focus on whatever it is that can distract you and put you in an observational attitude.