Can you really observe thought?

[JonW]

There are alternatives to observing thoughts. Noticing that one is caught up in thinking, especially negative spirals of thinking, one can shift attention to any number of 'anchors' - body sensations, sound, breathing etc.
Also, it's possible to differentiate between the content of thoughts and the thinking process itself. In other words, recognising that thoughts are (as Jon Kabat-Zinn wrote) 'mere secretions of the mind', passing mental events - realising over time that one is not one's thoughts and that thoughts are not facts.
Some teachers recommend visualisation exercises such as picturing oneself on a riverbank and imagining thoughts as a flowing river below, or imagining thoughts as clouds passing in the sky. From my own teaching experience, I've found the visualisation option to be of limited value, though it does appear to work for some.
Personally, in teaching mindfulness, I prefer the approach where one notices that one is caught up in thinking and then shifts into 'being' mode, bringing attention to the breath or to vivid sensations in the body. More often than not, that seems to work for people and, over time, becomes second nature, an automatic response to feeling overwhelmed by judgmental, self-critical thinking.
Jon

[Tasman]

Hey Jon, great insight.
I also find that using the body (i.e. breath or sensations) as an anchor is incredibly useful. I do get a lot of value from resting as awareness and noticing mental contents but I find it easier to become lost in them instead of truly observing them. Directing attention to the body, on the other hand, is a lot more tangible and is often my first step when facing a particularly difficult mental storm of some sort.

[piedwagtail91]

Jon's post, almost perfectly, sums up my approach.
I tried the visualisation many years ago when I was learning, but felt I was simply moving from one thought to another ( see thoughts as clouds in the sky). So gave up. After that when I noticed thoughts I came back to the body/ breath or came back to what was real in the moment . (what I was doing in the moment).