Mindfulness is the meditative practice of paying particular attention to events in the current environment, such as sounds or sights, or bodily functions, like breathing.  The object of mindfulness is to focus attention without judgment, so that eventually thoughts can be separated from actions, distancing and dis-empowering the constant mental chatter that can become paralyzing.  Instead of engaging in the mental chatter, it is merely noticed and let go.

Mindfulness is a practice that also engages the creative hemisphere of the brain, helping the practitioner to create neuronal pathways away from the logical hemisphere of the brain that tends to cycle and repeat negative thoughts.