@ETpro Oh there’s a definite difference in the two processes. It’s readily discernible to anyone who’s practiced meditation.
Simply put, if you become aware that you’re thinking, you’re not observing.
The tricky part is, it’s easy to literally become lost in thought because we’ve practiced thinking most of our lives. We’re drawn toward thought activity. Simply observing thought (refraining from the practice of actually participating with it; conceptualizing, analyzing, etc.) has the effect of allowing thought energy to dissipate and eventually stop.
The stillness you experience is proof that you’re not thinking. You’re simply aware.
That is, until you slip up and attach yourself to the thought, “Hey, I’m not thinking”…
…in which, of course, you’re back to thinking again.
We conceptualize so habitually, in fact, that it’s difficult to stop. We’re so addicted to thinking that we’ve come to believe that “I” and “my thoughts” are the same thing.
Simply observing proves that’s not true.
A good book on the subject of simply observing is Taming Your Gremlin: A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way by Rick Carson