Sustaining Mindfulness During Times of High Stress and Crisis

Discover how to sustain mindfulness during high-stress periods and personal crises. Practical tips, mindset shifts, and tools to help you stay grounded when life feels overwhelming.

When life feels like it’s crashing down—whether due to a personal loss, health scare, job upheaval or a global event—staying calm and centred can seem impossible. The mind races, the body tenses, and we find ourselves reacting from fear rather than responding with clarity. That’s when mindfulness becomes not just a nice-to-have, but a lifeline.

Mindfulness isn’t about pretending everything is fine. It’s about meeting the moment as it is—with honesty, presence and compassion. In this post, we’ll explore how you can sustain mindfulness during times of high stress and crisis, so you can move through difficulty with more stability and grace.

Why Mindfulness Matters Most in a Crisis

When you’re under pressure, your nervous system goes into survival mode. Fight, flight or freeze responses take over, and rational thinking often goes offline. This can lead to reactive choices, emotional outbursts or total shutdown.

Mindfulness helps by slowing everything down. It gives you a little breathing space between a stimulus and your response. That space can change everything.

In high-stress situations, mindfulness can:

• Help regulate your nervous system

• Interrupt spiralling thoughts

• Improve emotional resilience

• Support better decision-making

• Keep you grounded in the present moment

It’s not about denying your feelings or ‘fixing’ the situation—it’s about staying awake to what’s happening without getting overwhelmed.

Common Myths That Get in the Way

Before we dive into practical steps, let’s clear up a few myths that often sabotage mindfulness practice in a crisis:

“I don’t have time to be mindful right now.”
Mindfulness doesn’t have to take an hour. A single conscious breath is a mindfulness moment. It’s less about duration, more about intention.

“Mindfulness means being calm all the time.”
Not at all. Mindfulness means being aware of what’s happening—even if you’re feeling angry, anxious or heartbroken.

“I’m too overwhelmed to meditate.”
That’s OK. Sitting still in silence isn’t the only way. Walking, washing up, even crying mindfully counts. Mindfulness adapts to you, not the other way round.

Five Ways to Stay Mindful in Stressful Times

1. Anchor Yourself with the Body

The body is always in the present. When your thoughts are racing, drop your attention down into physical sensation. Feel your feet on the ground. Place a hand on your heart or belly. Notice your breath—don’t try to change it, just observe.

Try this simple exercise:

• Take a deep breath in through the nose

• Slowly exhale through the mouth

• Say quietly in your mind: “This is a moment of stress. I’m here. I’m safe.”

Even 30 seconds of this can reset your nervous system.

2. Keep a “One-Day Mind”

During a crisis, the future feels terrifying and the past feels heavy. It’s easy to get trapped in what-ifs. Instead, adopt a “one-day mind.” Focus on just today.

Ask yourself:

• What do I need in this moment?

• What is one small thing I can do right now?

• What can I let go of for today?

Mindfulness lives in the now. You don’t need to solve everything. Just return to the next breath, the next step.

3. Name What You’re Feeling

A powerful mindfulness tool is simply naming your emotions. When you label what you’re feeling—“anxiety,” “grief,” “anger,”—you create distance between you and the emotion. This helps shift activity from the reactive amygdala to the more rational prefrontal cortex.

You can say:

• “This is fear. I don’t have to act on it.”

• “Grief is here. I can breathe with it.”

Name it. Breathe. Let it move through without pushing it away or clinging to it.

4. Create Mindful Micro-Rituals

During chaos, tiny rituals can act like lifebuoys. Choose one or two small, grounding practices you can return to daily. Keep them simple and flexible.

Ideas include:

• Making tea slowly and mindfully

• Stepping outside for a breath of fresh air

• Writing one sentence in a journal

• Doing three minutes of mindful breathing before sleep

The key is consistency, not perfection. These rituals give your brain cues of safety and predictability.

5. Practise Compassionate Self-Talk

High-stress periods often trigger self-criticism. You might feel like you’re not coping “well enough” or should be stronger. Mindfulness teaches us to notice that inner critic—and respond with kindness.

Try speaking to yourself as you would to a close friend:

• “You’re doing the best you can.”

• “It’s OK to feel this way.”

• “This is hard, and I’m here for you.”

Compassion isn’t weakness. It’s a form of inner strength that sustains you when everything else feels shaky.

What If You Slip Up?

You will. That’s not failure—it’s the practice. Mindfulness isn’t about getting it right every time. It’s about coming back—again and again.

If you find yourself overwhelmed, distracted, reactive—that’s OK. The moment you notice, you’re back in mindfulness. Each return strengthens the muscle.

When to Seek Extra Support

Mindfulness is a powerful support tool, but it’s not a substitute for medical or psychological help. If your stress feels unmanageable, or you’re experiencing symptoms like insomnia, panic attacks or depression, reach out to a healthcare professional or crisis service.

Using mindfulness alongside therapy, coaching or medication can be a deeply supportive combination.

Final Thoughts: Making Mindfulness Your Ally

We often think we’ll practise mindfulness after the crisis—once things calm down. But that’s like saying you’ll start swimming lessons in the middle of a flood.

The good news? You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to do it all. Just begin, wherever you are. One breath. One moment. One day at a time.

Mindfulness won’t make your problems disappear, but it will change how you meet them. With practice, you’ll find an inner steadiness that no crisis can take away.

And in that space, you’ll remember: even in the hardest times, there is still ground beneath your feet. There is still breath. There is still you.

Extra Resources

Go here to learn more about my online Mindfulness Course.

Why not treat yourself to a mindfulness retreat in the beautiful Devon countryside?

This post may also interest you: Empowering Secret Of Allowing The Present Moment

Best Wishes,

David.

© D. R. Durham, All rights reserved, 2025.