We are made of stardust

Every now and then people stand in awe that we are made of "stardust," meaning gas and dust made in an exploding star.

That is not really an accurate picture.  We are made from material -- atoms -- that appears to have come out of the Big Bang that was mostly hydrogen and helium.  The heavier elements (the astronomer's "metals") were then cooked from this hydrogen and helium inside giant stars with the very heaviest being made in the moments of supernova when those stars exploded.  This is interesting but nothing to get star-struck about.

Where our mindfulness, or at least the possibility of our being mindful, comes from is more mysterious.  In fact it is absolutely not understood.  Gases and dust particles, even aggregates of them, do not contemplate or take note of things around them.

It is such a gift and we take it so for granted, and go through our lives mostly oblivious to the world we are in and what we are doing and where we are, let alone what our minds are up to.