I think I misunderstood mindfulness when I first started thinking about it

For a long time I thought mindfulness was basically supposed to work like this

I’m anxious → I become mindful → anxiety goes away.
But I’m starting to think that’s almost backwards.

Maybe the goal isn’t immediately getting rid of the uncomfortable feeling. Maybe it’s noticing what’s happening without instantly deciding that something has gone wrong and needs to be fixed.
That second reaction can create an entire additional layer of stress.

“I’m anxious.” becomes:

“Why am I anxious?”
“How do I stop this?”
“Why isn’t this working?”
“Am I doing something wrong?”
“How do I fix myself?”
And suddenly you’re anxious about being anxious.

I’m much more interested now in the smaller version of mindfulness.

https://youtu.be/KH1OQjSaWR0