As the Buddha defined it, mindfulness i’s the ability to remember things that were said or done long ago — and in particular, things that *you* said and did long ago — in order to see connections with present results.

"We often think of mindfulness simply as being fully aware of the present moment but it actually means the ability to keep something in mind. As the Buddha defined it, it’s the ability to remember things that were said or done long ago — and in particular, things that you said and did long ago. This is so that when the results come, you can recognize, “Oh, this is connected to that. This happened because of this action I took. I said that, now my mind is a mess. I said that a couple of hours ago but my mind is a mess now.” Or, “I did that a while back and now my mind’s in good shape.”

If you can’t see these connections, you don’t really have true insight. The insight lies in seeing cause and effect. After all, when the Buddha summarized the insight of his awakening, he boiled it down to a causal principle, the ability to see the connections: When one thing arises it causes something else to arise, either right now or down the line. When it passes away it causes the other thing to pass away, either right now or down the line, sometimes both.

That was it, a causal principle. When he wanted to convey in the briefest terms what was most useful to know about his awakening, that was what he would talk about: causal relationships. Because it’s in seeing the causal connections that you begin to realize, “Okay, my craving, my clinging right now are causing this suffering. If I stop the craving and clinging, the suffering stops.”

That was the lesson he wanted each of us to learn and to observe for ourselves. That’s the real gift of the Dhamma: not so much teaching the Dhamma but getting people to look inside themselves so that they can see that the actual Dhamma arising and passing away. And particularly seeing the connections, the Dhamma-ness of the causality that goes on in the mind. And then using that knowledge to put an end to suffering."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Questioning Everything"

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