Can/should we actively use thoughts as part of mindful awareness? I've been reading Thich Nhat Hanh's 'The Miracle of Mindfulness'. It's a wonderful, short book that I wish I had found years ago.

There's one very basic thing I still struggle with. This is a quote from the book:


  'When you are walking along a path leading into a village, you can
  practice mindfulness. [...] You practice by keeping this one thought
  alive: "I'm walking along the path leading into the village"'


Since I began mindfulness meditations a few years ago I've always aimed to practice an awareness where thoughts are merely things that happen whilst I am being aware, and that I should let them pass as they come, not engaging but not strenuously pushing away. However, is Thich Nhat Hanh suggesting in the quote that we can 'hold' a thought in our minds that mirrors the subject of our awareness, or this instead just a way of articulating the experience of awareness?

He also mentions similar practices regarding mindful breathing throughout the book.

This is such a basic thing that I'm concerned why I haven't 'got' it after all these years, it often feels like I understood mindfulness more when I was relatively new to it!

All the best,
James
Mindfulness (sati) does not mean "awareness" or "observation" of objects. 

Mindfulness means to carry or maintain a wise thought or view in the mind.

The original scriptures say: 


  One is mindful to abandon wrong view &amp; to enter &amp; remain in right view: This is one's right mindfulness.
  
  MN 117
  
  
  
  One recollects the Dhamma and thinks it over. Whenever, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu dwelling thus withdrawn recollects that Dhamma and thinks it over, on that occasion the enlightenment factor of mindfulness is aroused by the bhikkhu.
  
  SN 46.3


For example, if the teaching of non-craving &amp; non-unwholesomeness is maintained in the mind using mindfulness, the mind will be clear &amp; quiet. When the mind is clear &amp; quiet, it will naturally become observant of the breathing without any intention to observe the breathing. However, it is not mindfulness observing the breathing. It is consciousness that observes the breathing. All mindfulness does is keep the mind free from distracting thoughts. 

The scriptures (AN 10.58) say all dhamma practises are "governed" by mindfulness. This is the role of mindfulness, namely, to govern practise and keep practise on the right path. Mindfulness does not observe objects. The observing of objects happens automatically because it is the mind's nature to be observant, conscious or aware.