Being mindful in a MBSR-context means “paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non judgementally” (J. Kabat-Zinn).
A person is mindful when she knows what she experiences whilst she experiences it. „What do you think or feel right now, when you read these lines“? Maybe you judge what you are reading internally, or maybe you are distracted mentally. When you become aware of what you experience right now, you are already mindful. Our spirit produces comparisons and judgements constantly, gets lost in its own train of thoughts, and is daydreaming: this happens automatically, so to say, without us being conscious of it. These automatisms and the related negative attribution can lead to tension and stress. Mindful practice is about learning to be internally present from moment to moment and to break the circle of impulse and reaction.
Thus, by and by and when practising continuously, we develop greater clarity and cease to just react out of habit. After increasing practice we not only recognize what triggers stress and how we usually react to it, but also we obtain a greater element of freedom to decide how we can act more flexibly and more appropriately to the particular situation. It is not about getting rid of problematic patterns of thinking, but about becoming aware and to gain new options. The exercise of mindfulness enables us to tune from a “mode of doing” to a “mode of being”.