Mindfulness v Meditation

Mindfulness is "An undistracted awareness of the experience of the present moment."

Meditation is "Mental training designed to help you become familiar with your mind."

Mindfulness is a state or quality of awareness of being fully present in the here and now.

The reality check for mindfulness (Am I experiencing mindfulness right now?) is being aware of the passage of time as you observe your present moment experience.

• Meditation is training to become familiar with your mind.
• Any useful form of meditation is mental training.
• The vast majority of meditations found on a channel such as YouTube are completely useless from the perspective of mental training. They are a waste of time.
• There are various forms of mental training meditation, such as focused attention meditation, open awareness meditation, loving-kindness meditation, walking meditation, mantra meditation, mandala meditation and many others. Each type trains the mind in a specific way.
• A meditation that is practised to build your mindfulness experiences is known as 'mindfulness meditation'.
• Mindfulness meditation is a tiny subset of all mental training meditations.
• Mental training meditation is equally tiny compared to the sea of guided visualisations and adult bedtime stories masquerading as meditations that swamp the internet. These useless feel-good practices are used mainly to distract people with busy minds to help them get to sleep.
• All of the mental training-based meditations will help you become familiar and comfortable with your mind."

Meditation is the practice or process, while mindfulness is the outcome or state that meditation helps achieve.

In summary, mindfulness is not just a quality of awareness but a state that meditation helps develop. Meditation is the method or path to achieving mindfulness. One meditates not just to sit in silence but to become more consistently mindful in daily life, not just during meditation.

Mindfulness is a natural capacity, but the distractions and busyness of the modern world make it difficult to consistently access it without training the mind through meditation practice. So, while related, they are distinct—meditation is the training, and mindfulness is the result of that training when integrated into daily life.