Learning mindfulness in everyday life: 28-day challenge

The alarm clock rings, a new day begins. Often, as soon as we wake up, our thoughts revolve around the planned daily routine and the open tasks that need to be completed. During the day, we tend to wander, get stressed, or worry. In the evening we might blame ourselves for not having done everything. In such situations, it is difficult to do justice to oneself and to be satisfied with oneself. Mindfulness can help to slow down a fast and stressed everyday life.

What is mindfulness?

According to Jon Kabat-Zinn , the founder of modern mindfulness practice , mindfulness is a type of attention that is intentional , present , and nonjudgmental . Put simply, this means living in the here and now . This sounds easier at first than it is for many people. In certain situations, like a stressful day at work where we do many tasks at the same time, we quickly get thrown off course and doubt our abilities.

Mindfulness emphasizes the particular activity or moment. This person is only observed and consciously perceived, but not evaluated. Reviews are constant companions in our thoughts and cloud the focus on the essentials. In mindful experience, one tries to avoid this judgment and concentrate on what is happening outside of one's thoughts.

origin of mindfulness

The concept of mindfulness comes from Buddhism, in which meditation plays a major role. Mindfulness is essential and forms the basis for these meditations. In addition to his work as a molecular biologist, Jon Kabat-Zinn was intensively involved with Zen Buddhism . Building on this, he developed the medical mindfulness training MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) at the end of the 1970s, a program in which mindfulness helps to cope with stress. It is based on various yoga postures and parts of Vipassana meditation .

The eight-week MBSR training is the most well-known method for learning mindfulness. It leaves out philosophical-religious elements and is therefore also suitable for people without a spiritual connection. You can find out more here .

Challenge: mindfulness in everyday life

However, MBSR training is not always necessary for a mindful life. Mindfulness can also be learned through simple exercises that are integrated into everyday life . These mindfulness exercises help our psyche to calm down from time to time. So mindfulness is really good for us. That is why we would like to devote ourselves entirely to this topic in February. With our 28-day “ Mindfulness Challenge ” we will present you with a task every day from February 1st that will help you to perceive life a little more mindfully. You can download and print the challenge here:

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Let's lay the foundation for more mindfulness in everyday life together! We will accompany the challenge on Instagram and Facebook and give you more information and tips for each task. Feel free to share your insights and thoughts on this under #mindfulnesswithlotuscrafts . We look forward to exchanging ideas with you! Namaste