Sam Harris defines mindfulness plainly, with none of the incense: clear, nonjudgmental, undistracted attention to whatever is actually in consciousness right now, pleasant or not. He's careful to say there's nothing passive about it. It isn't zoning out or relaxing your standards. He calls it a kind of passion, an active interest in what's subjectively real in this exact moment, which takes more attention than drifting through the morning on autopilot, not less. It also isn't a technique for feeling good; the definition explicitly includes the unpleasant contents too, the irritation, the dread, the boredom, not just the nice parts. Most versions of paying attention we practice by default filter hard for whatever's pleasant and flinch from whatever isn't. Try the plainer version for sixty seconds this morning: notice one sensation exactly as it is, good, bad, or neutral, without adjusting your face about it.