Amongst the books I’ve read and the stories I’ve heard about mindfulness an ironic sentiment is popping up every so often; the notion of being more mindful than others. Or, to misquote kung fu movies on this on this, “My mindfulness is stronger than your yours”.
I will not hide my positive experiences with practising mindfulness; however, my goal was never to be more mindful than others. From my perspective being better is not the goal, there is no game or trophy, just the notion of inner peace (footnote). This is no claim to what it should be, I do however struggle with the paradox of mindfulness being something you can beat others with.
From a scientific standpoint I do have to recognize that there might be benefits to sessions of certain lengths per day. The minimum with noted results in publications seems to be somewhere around ten minutes per day, but then again, five minutes is a lot longer than nought. And those five minutes might lead to more attentive moments during the day or an increase in practise.
Footnote; Those who know me might be surprised by me using the wording “inner peace”, I have trouble finding a less esoteric term. My outward appearance might not always reflect this sense of tranquillity, I often appear chaotic in my enthusiasm.