Playfulness is probably a healthier option for shifting your perception compared to this much self-distancing.
... If one was really being mindful, they'd eventually see that the existence of their "self" is only possible in relation to others existing. So there's the self and the other, but in essence, one.
And that's one of the reasons the golden rule makes so much sense.
So I wouldn't blame mindfulness for any side effects. Negative side effects are the result of the ego/self creeping back into the picture.
It doesn’t involve ethics though. Buddhism didn’t come with those; they borrowed standard Western ones as part of a marketing campaign to make you think the Dalai Lama is just the most ethical guy ever.
There's a sort of No True Scotsman fallacy combined with confirmation bias that comes into play with other spiritual practices with which I am experienced. For example, "If your prayers aren't getting answered, you aren't fasting enough and praying hard enough, or you are praying for the wrong thing."
This is an easy trap to fall into with anything that generally works for some people but not others, and it's important to remember that there are other dimensions beside "really" or "enough", plus general randomness, that affect whether a practice/belief/etc is good for a person and successful.
Or maybe it was your alter ego?
Anyway, I used to have an alter ego. But I stopped using it for years, then one day a guy I never met got really mad at me because he didn’t want to use my nickname. It was an odd moment because I had never met him and don’t even use that nickname. He just heard it from someone else and the existence of a nickname apparently made him angry.
I quit shortly after because the manager who was also on the call didn’t even react as this guy I never met yelled at me for reasons that made no sense.
Sounds interesting