The topic of mindfulness is on everyone’s mind these days. There are now numerous guidebooks that want to teach us how we can go through everyday life in a mindful way. In addition, YouTube stars and even psychologists preach this topic. But is mindfulness really just a temporary fad and a trend? What is really behind it?

Last semester I took a course called Creative writing at my university in Germany. The person who kept a diary for the entire duration of the class passed the course. The content of this book was therefore very personal, because we were supposed to write every day about what we experienced, what was on our minds and our thought processes.

I admit that writing 90 pages in one day seemed like a lot, so I decided to do my assignment every day. At first, I just wrote down trivial things, trying to fill the page. But I recognized a process within me. Not only I was more reflective through my day, but I also tried to be more aware of moments.

Not a process of writing, which was much easier and I didn’t feel like I had to pull something out of my nose, but I was more attentive to the people around me and my cell phone use was drastically reduced. I felt like I had arrived and my stress level was reduced.

Mindfulness means being in the here and now- and not just physically, but mentally as well. This is not a normal state for many people, as it was or sometimes still is for me. Indeed, past and future seem to be more important. Have I made mistakes? Yes. Has my future changed as a result? Possibly. But am I wasting time thinking about it, time in which I could be happy? Definitely.

A mindful person, on the other hand, pays attention to the moment, but without evaluating it. We tend to evaluate everything permanently. To be mindful means to let this evaluation be and to concentrate on what is just outside the thoughts. It creates a “positive” distance and takes away the pressure to always have to fulfill social as well as personal requirements or to permanently have to make comparisons.

Mindfulness is the conscious perception and experience of the present moment. This includes everything that belongs to it: thoughts, emotions, sensory impressions, physical processes and everything, simply everything that happens around you and falls into your perception. There is no evaluation here.

For many, this sounds like esotericism at first, but the value-free observation and acceptance of the present is actually a state of consciousness that you can learn and use. Thus, mindfulness can increase self-awareness, as you get to know not only the environment, but also yourself, your own thoughts and feelings better.

Not only does it make people significantly more psychologically stable and healthy, but they are also better able to cope with stress and strain. It increases sensitivity, concentration and compassion, which all have a positive effect on interpersonal relationships.

To be honest, being mindful is pretty exhausting. But my little project, which enticed me to live in the here and now and literally “live the day,” also proved to me that it’s worth the effort.

Melissa (24). I study social work and come from Germany. Sunday is my absolute favourite day of the week. That’s because Sunday means “me-time”. For me, relaxing means listening to a podcast or going out for a walk with my dog. My quote of the day was written on my yogi tea bag and it says “Life is sharing”. 

Photo by Harrison Haines from Pexels