A Tripartite Function of Mindfulness in Adjustment to Aging: Acceptance, Integration, and Transcendence

Mindfulness has been gradually incorporated into clinical intervention and personal growth. Considerable research demonstrates that mindfulness is associated with positive health and well-being outcomes. Researchers have begun to inquire into the mechanisms of mindfulness. Building on empirical and theoretical insights and Buddhist philosophy, this article argues that mindfulness can serve a tripartite function of acceptance, integration, and transcendence in adjustment to aging. More specifically, mindfulness would help older adults (a) to accept phenomenal impermanence, emotional experience, and what they are, (b) to integrate life and death and integrate the ego, and (c) to transcend the ego and develop into the self. This article concludes by highlighting the acceptance-integration-transcendence framework as a heuristic framework for practice and suggesting directions for future research on mindfulness and aging.