The episode opens with Connie (Grace Rolek) arriving at Steven (Zach Callison)'s house for training, distracted and in a bad mood.

Steven and Connie go to the Sky Arena to practice fighting while fused as Stevonnie (AJ Michalka), under the supervision of Pearl (Deedee Magno Hall) and Garnet (Estelle).

The song encourages Stevonnie to mindfully pay attention to and contextualize their emotions: "Take a moment to think of just flexibility, love, and trust."

The process of dealing with emotions is visualized by scenes of Ruby and Sapphire, and then Connie and Steven, being overwhelmed by swarms of butterflies, but helping each other to drive them off or accept them.

"Mindful Education" was written by Colin Howard, Jeff Liu, and guest animator Takafumi Hori of Studio Trigger.

At the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con, AJ Michalka and Estelle, alongside Rebecca Sugar, sang a live acoustic version of the song.

The animation, Hori's storyboarding and voice acting of the "Here Comes a Thought" sequence was particularly lauded,[3][4][5] with James Whitbrook of io9 calling it "one of Steven Universe's best songs since 'Stronger Than You'",[6] and Eric Thurm of The A.V.

[7] The message of the episode was also praised,[7][8] with Vrai Kaiser of The Mary Sue comparing it to Pixar's Inside Out,[3] and ND Medina of iDigitalTimes calling it a "bite-sized dose" of cognitive behavioral therapy.