The problem stems from the fact that the initial translations of the Pali Canon to western languages comes from German monks who understood Pali well but could not find appropriate words in western languages to capture the semantics. Mindfulness technique was used for at least 2000-3000 years before Buddha. So words used in the Pali canon have an etymology associated with them that cannot be easily captured in western languages.
"Mindfulness" is a best-effort translation of the word "Sati". What the word "Sati" really captures is "REMEMBERING to pay attention to what is happening in the mind at all times". A trained mind develops this automatic memory to constantly check and introspect the current state of the mind. Based on whether the current state is wholesome (leading to happiness) the "Sati" helps refocus the mind on wholesome thoughts (this is right effort of noble 8 fold path). Over time two things happen: you get intimately familiar with the workings of the mind and you know how to "manage" your thoughts without using "will" or "force" to repress the thoughts into the subconscious. This is an exercise in finesse rather than force. The gist of it is that "ignorance of reality" (that there is an "I") is the root cause of suffering in living beings. But to grasp that at the "intuitive" level (and not just intellectual) requires years of training and you start to see the fruits along the way.
Do you think there is an advantage in using meditation to achieve a state where you can manage your thoughts, vs other techniques like CBT? It seems to me that most people don’t need the abstract/spiritual concepts like there not being an I, whatever that means. Your comment implies that understanding the abstract concepts is the real point of meditation, and I still don’t see what the benefit of that is - unless it’s just a very mystical way to say that we don’t have fixed, unchangeable personalities and we should worry less about our ego.
I would suggest that both meditation and CBT have a similar objective, which is to see reality more clearly for what it is. CBT goes far enough to transform distorted thoughts into more realistic ones. This goes far enough to help you live a happy life in the "normal" sense. Meditation can be used to go all the way to the realization of the Ego/body limited self as an illusory concept. This normally results in a rush of a very clear sense of reality. Which lets all worries, problems, hopes, insecurities etc. collapse into what they really are. A constant play and variation of matter/form/energy/consciousness/god whatever you want to call it. That are just other forms of our "true" self matter/form/energy/consciousness/god, experiencing this variation and play. This gives a lot of room for joy or bliss if you will. From my own experience it takes some practice to keep remembering this reality more and more often.
Do you buy into the criticism of our phones and social media being addictive and harmful to our ability to maintain focus and concentration? If so, then there must be a way to build strength in the opposite direction, right? For some (including me), meditation seems to help.
I used the guided sessions from the free Oak app and a lot of the beginner stuff is about just sitting and focusing on one thing (usually the breath). An early skill is to recognize when a distracting thought enters your mind. You acknowledge it and return to focusing on the breath. I use this when I'm working. If I suddenly remember that I'm supposed to do something later in the week or start to wonder if the SR-71 could ever achieve a trajectory with escape velocity, I write it down and come back to it later.
I really like ‘mind tools’ like writing down thoughts/worries to get them out of my head. But sitting still never helped me develop them. Reading about and practicing using the tools did. I guess though if meditation is simply a different approach to developing the same tools, that’s fine - it may work better for some people.
