cessation of thoughts

recently while i was meditating i came to a conclusion that the significance of a thought is equal to the significance it is given. Is this true? I listened to a lecture where an instructor said (more or less) that the mind is like an ocean and the thoughts are like waves and to settle the waves you must settle the ocean. So in my attempts to grasp this i tried to give as little attention to my thoughts as possible and to always keep in mind the ocean and the waves. This worked until i would catch myself slipping into dream like visuals where i would have to remind myself to focus on my faculty of awareness to break these hypnotizing thoughts. They seem to come as if they were already there and disappear as if they never happened while becoming more fierce with each realization. so my question is how do i break this seemingly endless train of dreamlike visuals. I understand that we must always remember the consciousness and to be aware of our meditation but this also prevents me from expanding beyond the body that was recently explained in sameals new message " eruption of the void ". So how do we end these hypnotizing visuals that seem to come and go without any permission? simply stay mindful and aware through all thoughts until complete cessation arrives? thank you