i practice Shambhala, a form of more secular Buddhism. The main focus is mindfulness. You train your mind through meditation to calm the constant chatter and become more aware of your surroundings, your feelings, you in the real world,right now.

you talk a walk down the street and at the end you dont remember any of the walk, you remember what you were thinking about. we go on autopilot. Mindfulness, loosely, would be learning to pay attention, to be here and now... look at the world around you and notice.

the benefits are not about knowing what colour the third neighbour down has painted their fence... it's about pulling ourselves outside of that inner chatter and engaging the world and even other aspects of ourselves. It's exactly why getting busy doing something eases anxiety.. it pulls your mind away from that dialogue in your head.

when we are mindful the world becomes a larger place. IME mindfulness can bring a great deal of calmness, and can help you manage your emotions and thoughts better.