The Mindful Break 2019

Ladies and gentlemen, The Mindful Break is back! What started out four years ago from my desire to cultivate a mindfulness practice, has become a regular feature that I – and many of The Mindful Break regulars – look forward to each October.

The need for a mindfulness practice

And for good reason. For one, it gives us a chance to connect on Instagram in a stress-free way, taking a moment to pause and breathe and share a slice of our life and thoughts with one another. It feels like a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stressful environment, as we juggle work, home, studies, families, social duties, and seemingly endless to-do lists. Instead of just vegging out on the sofa and binge watching Netflix, which just numbs us out and does us more harm than good, The Mindful Break encourages us to take a pause.

After all, we are constantly bombarded with information and to-do lists. What our minds need is a pause – some time to disconnect from everything that is happening all over the world, and all around us, and to focus on what is right in front of us. That is the essence of a mindfulness practice: a few moments of pause sprinkled throughout the day. A regular mindfulness practice has a number of benefits – the biggest of which is the resilience to deal with almost anything that life throws at us. And when we can approach our adversities with a calm mind, that’s almost half the battle won!

But going from an always-on culture to remembering to take breaks isn’t always easy, which is why I created The Mindful Break.

What is The Mindful Break?

It is a 15 day photography challenge – a simple reminder to be in the moment, a gentle pause in the middle of all the frenetic activity. This is an easy way for you to begin to cultivate a mindfulness practice along with some much-needed accountability as you start to build a new habit!

And this year, we have prompts, which you will find on the main challenge page.

The “rules” are super simple.

Post 1 photo a day {or more if you wish!} on Instagram using #TheMindfulBreak hashtag.

Follow the prompt of the day – or don’t. It’s up to you. Though the prompts are designed to remind you to be mindful in every day situations and activities.

Follow the hashtag to connect with new peeps and find some interesting new Instagrammers to follow.

Add a link to your Instagram account so we can find new peeps to interact with and follow.

There is no compulsion to follow anyone, and you don’t have to be a blogger to participate. Just share your photos on Instagram using #TheMindfulBreak hashtag and have fun! {Oh, and make sure your Instagram account is not set to private, or we won’t be able to find you!}

The challenge runs on Instagram from 7 to 21 October.

Head over to the main challenge page to add your Instagram account to the linky and let’s have some fun!