The practice of mindfulness is part of a contemporary area of psychology called Positive Psychology. Positive Psychology seeks to help promote happiness and the creation of a future based on a focused image of that future thing or state. This is not about self-fulfillment and satisfaction. It is the optimization of what we picture as a want that we can bring into being through visualizing and imagining that future.
The neuroscience of mindfulness involves the joy of accepting not judging in the present moment. It also involves the three elements of gratitude, love, and compassion. By showing gratitude, we are wiring our brain ahead of the reality of having the thing we are grateful for; and thus attracting what we don't yet have. This is a type of "fake it til' you make it".
We can create the positive states and traits that turn mindfulness to our advantage and create mindful states. We create self-aware emotions that generate happiness.
Three are many physical and mental health benefits of positive psychology. Some of them are optimism and recovery; post-traumatic growth; and the increase in psychological resilience.