You want to keep making sure that your active attention stays active. You want to keep double checking that the mind hasn’t sort of first you are watching thinking and then slowly swayed into thinking.

You have to be active – it can be a little mechanical but you have to keep reminding yourself, “Is the mind aware now and what is it aware of now?” You need to be actively investigating your active attention.

Give yourself work – like there are five sense doors; which ones am I aware of now? Are these the only things present? Can I also notice the others?

Actively give yourself work so the mind doesn’t drift off even though there is thinking. There can be thinking, but active awareness will prevent drifting into thinking. You will remain conscious of thinking.

When you feel clearly connected to some objects that you’re observing, once the awareness feels more established and more connected, you can then start checking if you see the difference between the object and the awareness.