Exploring Why Mindfulness Has No Past, Present, Or Future

Why there’s no yesterday’s, today’s, or tomorrow’s mindfulness. What does this mean?

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

One of the fundamental qualities of Mindfulness is that it emerges and operates through a direct contact with “emergent experience” within the present moment. Essentially, it is a quality of awareness that everyone has that can be accessed and only found in the immediate “now” of human experience. We could say that, “There is no yesterday’s, today’s, or tomorrow’s mindfulness.” What does this mean?

First, let us start by breaking down what is meant by the term "emergent experience."

What is “emergent experience”?

“Emergent experience" refers to the notion that consciousness is continually arising anew in response to each moment; how it is not static but continually changing in response to changing conditions (Thompson, 2010).

Emergent here is key. Why? It is pointing to us how our conscious experience is not pre-formed or pre-existing but rather comes into being through contact with “the world” through a dynamic process of sensory inputs, the mental activity this gives rise to, and awareness of this itself. As Kramer (2012) put it,

“Emergence refers to the process by which the complex things we experience arise spontaneously from underlying contributing factors.” (ch. 14, para. 2)

In their work on embodied cognition, Varela et al. (2017) articulate how experience is not a product but a process continuously arising through a direct embodied engagement with the world. They called this enacted cognition.

We might also argue how viewing experience as emergent might find parallels with the Buddhist concept of dependent arising or dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda). It talks about the interdependent nature of phenomena and how they co-arise. It describes how phenomena cannot have an independent existence but arise out of a multitude of causes and conditions that are linked to each other, and how one gives rise to another (Williams & Tribe, 2000).

Mindfulness practice aims to lay bare this emergent nature of experience, revealing the uniqueness of each moment and how it cannot be reproduced. This irreproducibility stems from the fact that each moment has countless contributing factors that shape and give rise to it. Because of this experience cannot be reduced to any one single factor.

Beyond time: The timeless nature of mindful awareness

In a commentary, Kabat-Zinn (2003) wrote on mindfulness-based interventions, he points out how mindfulness involves attending to the unfolding of experience moment by moment, recognising how each moment arises out of a complex interplay of causes and conditions that influence each other. He comments on how mindfulness is,

“The awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment.” (ibid., p. 145)

This recognition of experience as constantly emerging rather than being fixed or stable is foundational for understanding why mindfulness as a quality of awareness can only be found in the immediate present through a direct contact with what we are experiencing right now in this moment.

This then takes us to our statement, "there is no yesterday’s, today’s, or tomorrow’s mindfulness." It is a contemplative statement on the nature of mindfulness as a quality of awareness and its relationship to time. It exists and emerges only through a direct, unimpeded contact with “emergent” present moment experience; it is not something static but ever-moving, dynamic, and changing.

It is not something that can be delayed till tomorrow or grasped out of yesterday’s experience, or dare I even say something that belongs to “today” as these are just labels that would act as concepts that would come in the way of its ever-moving, dynamic, and changing nature. If we break it down:

"There is no yesterday's mindfulness" – It is not something that you can experience or retrieve from the past or through revisiting past experiences or memories. That experience is gone, and the unaltered awareness of it is gone too; it only existed in that moment.

"There is no today's mindfulness" - Labelling “mindful awareness” as something belonging to "today" can create a conceptual framework that separates it from its dynamic nature; mindfulness transcends the notion of "today’ it is ever present and pervasive yet fluid and dynamic.

"There is no tomorrow's mindfulness" – In truth, mindfulness as a quality of awareness emergent from momentary experience cannot be done in advance or postponed to a future date. It cannot be scheduled or saved for later.

This three-point breakdown points to something fundamental when it comes to mindfulness as a quality of awareness; it is something that exists beyond and transcends the very concept of time as we conventionally understand it.

As western “secular mindfulness” historically emerged from Buddhism, when we begin to see this, it points to one of the core contemplative Buddhist teachings on the three marks of existence, that of impermanence (anicca), and how the present moment is constantly unfolding (Gethin, 1998; Kabat-Zinn, 2011).

The present moment is never static—it is an unfolding and transforming process of emergent “moments”, one moment leading to the next. So, attempting to capture mindfulness within temporal boundaries is a reflection of a habitual tendency to conceptualise experience rather than directly engage with it, which in the end merely obstructs contact with reality as it is.

So, when we try to place mindfulness within the construct of time (yesterday, today, tomorrow), there is a shift into thinking about it conceptually rather than experiencing it directly. This conceptual shift, while useful for discussing mindfulness as I am also doing right now while writing about it, can also become an obstacle to embodying mindfulness, the very awareness we seek to cultivate.

So, although we all have the capacity for mindfulness, it is not something we possess, “own”, store or archive. It is an ongoing process of present-moment awareness that exists outside the bounds of our normal time-bound thinking. The moment we label it or try to contain it within time boundaries, we've stepped away from true mindfulness. It is so subtle you might be using it right now and not even aware of it, as Gunaratana (2011) put it:

“Mindfulness is a subtle process that you are using at this very moment. The fact that this process lies above and beyond words does not make it unreal -- quite the reverse. Mindfulness is the reality which gives rise to words -- the words that follow are simply pale shadows of reality.” (p. 131)

The present moment paradox

This leads me to reflect on what authors and teachers of mindfulness like Gunaratana (2012) and Kabat-Zinn (2015) have written about, how the transformative qualities of mindfulness—compassion, joy, kindness, and equanimity—are not something that can be cultivated through thinking about them but are cultivated through a real-time active engagement with life. This is usually considered one of the main distinguishing features of mindfulness when compared with other psychological interventions or spiritual approaches.

This presents to us a problem because there is a tendency to engage with mindfulness practice with goals set with future oriented mindset like - reducing stress, improving concentration/focus – Yet the very practice of mindfulness asks us to abandon this future goal-oriented approach and just meet ourselves as we are right now whether we are stressed, restless, distracted or anxious.

This always reminds me of a research article on the theme of spiritual superiority and narcissism by Vong and Visser (2021) where they comment the following,

“The 'genuine' spiritual path is nothing more or less than becoming awake: directly in touch with reality as it is right here and now, including qualities we do not like. The very starting point that something must be fixed or changed, that one needs to get away from here to a better situation, merely obscures contact with this reality. And yet, spiritual trainings often carry the hedonistic promise of improving our impact, creativity, confidence, focus, listening skills, stress resistance, eating habits, or happiness altogether. Trainees may have the goal to alleviate suffering, become inspiring leaders, keep their heads cool amidst their busy day-to-day dynamics, cope with loss, ruminate less, sleep better—all motives that are materialistic… and stem from being displeased with present reality” (p. 153).

Having said that, it is because of this “immediate nature” that mindfulness as an approach offers a unique framework for approaching and holding in balanced awareness our inner landscape at any one moment while simultaneously engaging with the world around us through that balanced mindset.

Research has incrementally found how this balanced dual awareness—internal and external—helps activate and strengthen neural networks associated with improving self-regulation and social connection (Farb & Segal, 2024; Siegel, 2020). This strengthens the argument for how the experiential present-centred nature of mindfulness can act as a connecting bridge between our internal states, our environment and our relationships with others.

Still, I do not totally agree with Vong and Visser's (2020) statement as I believe we do need a “purpose” or, more appropriately, an intention for practising. But this intention is not a goal; it is a knowing of why we are practising and our motivation for practising. So, rather than a goal intention in mindfulness is more of a direction of travel rather than a destination.

On this, Jon Kabat-Zinn (1990) in his acclaimed book “Full Catastrophe Living” wrote when it comes to intentions for practising mindfulness,

“Your intentions set the stage for what is possible. They remind you from moment to moment of why you are practising in the first place” (p. 32).

And a few pages later, he continues,

“I used to think that meditation practice was so powerful... that as long as you did it at all, you would see growth and change. But time has taught me that some kind of personal vision is also necessary. Perhaps it could be a vision of what or who you might be if you were to let go of the fetters of your own mind and the limitations of your own body. This image or ideal will help carry you through the inevitable periods of low motivation and give continuity to your practice. Your vision should be what is most important to you, what you believe is most fundamental to your ability to be your best self, to be at peace with yourself, to be whole.” (p. 46)

The challenge of sustaining presence

However, taking such a path is neither easy nor a quick fix, and the path to maintaining mindfulness is fraught with challenges. Why?

Because, as humans, we have a natural tendency towards forming and defaulting towards automatic patterns of thinking and behaving that are often unhelpful (Kahneman, 2012).

Tara Brach (2020) also points this out in her book “Radical Acceptance,” how humans have this tendency to often fall into what she calls the "trance of unworthiness" - psychological states of struggle where we find ourselves caught in constant loops of self-judgment, anxious thought, restlessness and general dissatisfaction.

This can make sustained mindfulness seem elusive because this pattern of falling into patterns of seeing the negative is something deeply ingrained within us through evolution - a pattern that many times is further reinforced through our personal history and upbringing (Gilbert & Choden, 2014).

This is why, in those moments when we do achieve this state of present awareness, they can become powerful anchors in our experience from where the foundational “attitudinal” qualities of mindfulness, like kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, can start to take root.

Beyond attention: The attitudinal heart of mindfulness

As these “attitudinal” qualities take root, they can give rise to what we could call an "upward spiral" in our psychological well-being. What do I mean here?

Because as we cultivate the ability to approach our experience and others with kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, we are more likely to cultivate this sense of remaining present that we call mindfulness; in turn when we are present, our capacity to express kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity naturally expands, what we could call a positive feedback loop. Further, this challenges the common misconception that mindfulness is merely about attention or relaxation.

In truth, research has incrementally indicated that mindfulness training without the cultivation of the attitudinal qualities tied to mindfulness might fail to result in the expected range of benefits as an outcome from mindfulness practice (Dhal & Davidson, 2019).

In fact, studies indicate that those participants who received instruction in both the attention element of mindfulness and the attitudinal qualities of mindfulness seem to demonstrate significant improvements in emotional regulation, interpersonal functioning and managing stressful situations better with maintained longer-term outcomes, on the contrary to those who only received attention training (Lindsay & Creswell, 2017; Lindsay et al., 2018a; Lindsay et al., 2018b).

From cushion to community: Mindfulness in daily life

This moves us into a crucial aspect, how the transformative potential of mindfulness lies in the translation of our formal mindfulness practice into daily life.

Shapiro and Carlson (2017) argued that the real test of mindfulness does not only depend on what happens during meditation but in how our meditation practice in turn starts to influence our moment-to-moment experience in the world. Reflect on this: what benefit would it be to meditate for an hour every day if what we cultivate on the “meditation cushion” does not translate into our daily life?

This might be most pronounced in the way of how our mindfulness practice can start to effect the people around us.

This is something that Dhal and Davidson (2019) allude to in their article, how the attitudinal qualities we cultivate in mindfulness can have a knock-on effect onto the way we interact with each other. How mindful awareness can fundamentally alter the quality of our interactions with others, especially through qualities that have a prosocial element to them, like compassion, kindness and gratitude.

I like to use this simple example when students ask me, but how can mindfulness help with my relationships with others? I pose to them the following questions to reflect on:

• If mindfulness helps you with managing stress better, how will this effect your relationships with others?

• If, as a consequence of mindfulness, you become less reactive and better able to manage your emotions, how will this effect your relationships with others?

• If, because of mindfulness, you start to cultivate a gentler, kinder approach to life, will this effect your relationships with others?

Engaged mindfulness: Personal and social transformation

This is why an argument has been made that “mindfulness” has to extend beyond our immediate personal relationships to encompass a broader social engagement. This is something that has been advocated for and called “Engaged Buddhism”, founded on the belief that genuine spiritual practice requires an active involvement in society, directly addressing issues such as violence and peace, inequality, homelessness, prisons, and the environment (Hanh, 2020; Queen, 2000).

Purser (2019) strongly points this out in his controversial book, mcmindfulness, how “authentic” mindfulness practice consequently leads to increased awareness of social interconnection and collective responsibility. This can show itself in becoming more skilful in navigating difficult conversations, to enhanced sensitivity to social justice issues. Purser (2019) further points out how if mindfulness does not result in personal and social transformation, then it might be just attentional training or another form of “brainwashing”.

Having said that, research indicates that regular mindfulness practice, particularly when it includes the explicit cultivation of the qualities of compassion, kindness and equanimity, has been shown to increase prosocial behaviour and reduce implicit intergroup bias (Donald et al., 2019; Oyler et al., 2022).

I find this hopeful and encouraging as it suggests how the personal benefits I experience from mindfulness might naturally flow into the social sphere, creating the foundation of what Buddhist scholar Thich Nhat Hanh (2020) terms the realisation of "Interbeing" - our fundamental interconnectedness – where he also proposes the 14 mindfulness trainings of engaged Buddhism.

Swimming against the current: Challenges in a consumerist world

However, this is easier said than done, especially in a post-modern capitalist consumerist world which “idolises” productivity, individuality and constant engagement; the challenge of sustaining and cultivating mindfulness and its qualities should not be underestimated, as it requires us to go against the grain.

Not only but as we mentioned previously, and as Williams and Penman (2021) further pointed out, how the mind has a natural tendency to gravitate toward threat, criticism, and negativity—a tendency shaped by evolution.

However, they also point out how mindfulness can provide moments of clear seeing and open-heartedness, and although sometimes they might seem brief and fleeting, few and far apart moments, still these can serve as essential reminders of our innate capacity for presence, connection, compassion and kindness and the innate goodness that might lay dormant in each and everyone of us.

A way of being

So, ultimately, mindfulness requires effort, and although in all truth and genuineness, we might first start to practice mindfulness for example, to better manage stress - and there is no shame and nothing wrong with that. But after a while with consistent practice and the conscious cultivation of the attitudinal qualities of mindfulness, we might find that it becomes more than a technique for stress reduction.

It develops into what Jon Kabat-Zinn (1990) calls a "way of being" that fundamentally transforms the way we relate to ourselves and others, the situations we encounter and life in general. This change does not occur through brute force but through the gentle persistence of returning to present-moment awareness with kindness and curiosity.

Which leads us to our initial statement how - "There is no yesterday’s, today’s, or tomorrow’s mindfulness" - because in reality where do these benefits emerge and where do we practice and strengthen them by writing about them, by talking about them, by thinking about them or by actively living them in the ever unfolding cycle of being present with life as it unfolds moment by moment, step by step, breath by breath.

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