By watching them, the speed of thought and the intensity of emotion calms down. Once mind stops, time also stops, we have direct experience of ourselves and of the universe.
Information enters the senses, goes into the mind and reaches the subject, becoming experience.
Let s do a simple experiment. You observe for a few moments a plant in your room or outside the window and then close your eyes. Inside you see many different thoughts like how big is the plant, what colour it is and so on. You experience the plant through many thoughts. Direct experience requires that while experiencing the plant, your mind is quiet.