Mindfulness

Living in the moment

What is mindfulness?

Our mental immune system – or resilience, in other words – helps us to successfully navigate everyday life with all its ups and downs. The good thing is that it can be trained like a muscle. One way to strengthen your own resilience is through mindfulness. Mindfulness helps us to consciously stay in the moment and face challenges with more composure.

It has nothing to do with esotericism: It’s all about consciously focussing on the moment without analysing what we are doing as “good” or “bad”. Looking at your own situation from the outside creates distance and helps you to sharpen your focus on what’s important.

Pausing for a moment? Easier said than done! We’re so used to doing lots of things at the same time and are always thinking several steps ahead. That’s why taking a moment to bring yourself to a “standstill” can feel strange at first. But with a little practice, we learn to consciously savour this moment and cultivate the power of our inner strength.

Helping you to help yourself

Take time to engage in some mindfulness. This will help you keep an overview even in stormy times and help you deal with challenges that arise. And let’s be honest, does everything really always have to be done right away?

Try to get into the habit of pausing for a moment – especially in stressful situations. With calmness and a little space to breathe, you can make well-considered decisions that aren’t solely based on gut instinct. You’re likely to make fewer mistakes this way and can get an unexpected situation back under control.

Once you’ve turned mindfulness into a habit, the challenges of everyday life, whether they be professional or private, often don’t seem so big any more. In the long term, this will make you feel much better about everything you do.

Try to get into the habit of pausing for a moment – especially in stressful situations. With calmness and a little space to breathe, you can make well-considered decisions that aren’t solely based on gut instinct.

Practising mindfulness

Mindfulness is something that can be learned. You don’t need any special skills for it. Being willing and regular repetition are crucial.

Breathing meditation: Close your eyes. Breathe in deeply through your nose and, after holding your breath for a second, breathe out slowly through your mouth. Concentrate only on your breathing and try to block out all other thoughts.
Body scan: Close your eyes and focus in on individual parts of your body one at a time – from your toes to your feet upwards throughout your whole body. Take a note of what you feel when you do this: Warmth or cold, heaviness or lightness, the fabric of your clothes etc.
Three-minute pause: Take three minutes to only concentrate on how you’re feeling right now. Observe your emotions from an outsider’s perspective, without asking why. Simply allow the feelings to come. When the time is up, check whether you feel differently from before.

Have you been severely restricted by psychological stress for several weeks? This may indicate an illness. Please do not hesitate to seek professional help. You are not alone!

Being mindful through everyday life

You can approach the topic of mindfulness very slowly. It also works in times of stress. Take advantage of all of the small everyday opportunities that present themselves to pause for a moment.

For example, try to consciously savour your food instead of shovelling it in while doing something else. Pay attention to what you hear and see on the way to work. And if you’re waiting for someone, don’t immediately reach for your smartphone, but take time to notice your surroundings, for example.

The key to mindfulness is to be fully in the moment and only focus on one thing at a time. This way you can take time during your everyday life to slow down every now and then.