How to Know When You're Meditating

How do I know when I'm meditating when the pay attention to thoughts? Sometimes my thoughts seem so creative that I'm having meaningful insights. Contemplations, a really useful thing, but it's invaluable to get the knack of waking up out of thoughts and sensing, Oh, this is larger than our thoughts. They're pointing to reality. So when we open up add of thoughts, we can rest in that reality.