The Wake Up Call for Lawyers
Mindfulness for the Legal Mind: a 10-minute talk plus 10 minutes of guided meditation. A brief refuge. The musings of a long-time lawyer, law professor, and mindfulness geek on lawyering from a mindful perspective. Tools to cultivate more joy, ease, and wellbeing in this crazy profession. Ideas to become even better at what you do, and save the world. A few minutes of peace every week, which you definitely deserve.
Episodes
175 episodes
Wise Concentration
The funny thing about mindfulness is that even though it takes effort and solid intention, it’s also deeply relaxing. I used to think that focusing on my breath was some combination of dreary, borin...
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Season 8
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Episode 459
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19:02
Wise Mindfulness, A Tall Order
I want to say I’m ok with the news, the polls, the weather, my friends, my family. I want to say that, but plenty of times I’m just not. I’m anxious or impatient or fearful or just flat out exhausted. Mindfulne...
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Season 8
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Episode 458
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20:08
Wise Effort - Goldilocks Was Right
How much effort is enough? In the law, often the answer is, it’s never enough.That’s a burnout-answer.But it doesn’t mean we don’t have to work our tails off to do a good job. Mindfulness invites us to work hard, too, but there...
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Season 8
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Episode 457
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19:53
Wise Lawyering: Practicing Peace
When I think back on being 20 and choosing to be a lawyer, there was a lot of, “why not? That seems like a cool path.” There was less of, “how will this serve?” or “will this contribute to a more harmonious world?”I see now that whether ...
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Season 8
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Episode 456
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20:12
Behaving With Wisdom
Behaving mindfully is not always easy. Don’t cause harm, don’t take anything that’s not mine to take, don’t be biased, don’t cloud the mind, always be kind: it’s clear what the invitation is. But for me it’s not easy to remember to accept that ...
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Season 8
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Episode 455
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18:56
Winning & Influencing Mindfully
I have no idea how many times I say something, or write an email, or post, with irritation on my mind. Or hit the numbers for Verizon, with exasperation. I do know that when I do, the result is often not great.When I remember to be mindf...
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Season 8
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Episode 454
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19:41
The Problem With Good Intentions
The problem with good intentions is that they’re subjective. Plus, I may have good intentions but what ‘good’ are they if my impact is still harmful?Wise intentions are different. Wise intentions are objective and aspirational. When I re...
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Season 8
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Episode 452
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20:02
The Path to Waking Up
The Path to Waking UpEach of the eight steps of the mindfulness path - the path to waking up - feels important. But the first, which emphasizes that everything we say and do matters, feels like the most important to remember. When...
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Season 8
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Episode 452
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20:08
Letting Go When the Stakes are High
Right now feels like a moment when I need to assert my beliefs and work very, very hard to create change. The stakes feel too high to do anything else.At the same time, when I act like an expert not too many people seem to want to hear w...
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Season 8
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Episode 451
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19:50
The Reason Things Are Hard
The birds in the trees, the light at dawn, the gorgeousness of morning: these things are all mixed up right now with dysfunctional politics, a precarious climate, and so much going on at home.Mindfulness helps. Present moment attention w...
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Season 8
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Episode 450
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20:45
Why Being Human is The Only Way
Each day of being relatively balanced feels to me like a day of possibility. What I notice is that when I’m balanced, when I’m really feeling human - not in survival mode, not activated, not checked out, there’s the possibility that mindfulness...
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Season 8
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Episode 449
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20:37
The Insecurity Of Everything
There’s nothing I want more, really, than for things to be secure and predictable and easeful, for me and for everyone. But that’s the funny thing about being human. Nothing is secure, not even our lives. Almost nothing is predictable, not in a...
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Season 8
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Episode 448
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21:08
Why Change is All the Things
Change: in my experience, it's sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes welcome, sometimes super hard, but nearly always, out of my control.And yet, when everything is going swimmingly, I forget that. I’m like a dog with a bone: grrrrr -...
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Season 8
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Episode 447
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19:21
Suffering As the Most Ordinary Thing
For a long time I was convinced that suffering was for other people. I thought, I have enough to eat, a nice home, a great partner and child. Where is the suffering? But I was missing the fundamentals. I was failing to see that this...
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Season 8
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Episode 446
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19:35
The End of Suffering
The way I see it, we have two choices. We can rail against reality and exhaust ourselves. Or we can find a way to leaving the room, the house, the office, the world, the moment, a little bit better every time, no matter how we’re fe...
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Season 8
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Episode 445
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19:29
Not This Not That
I feel like at this moment in a relatively long life so far, I should be able to say yes to certain things, no to others, and be able to count on things remaining relatively stable. Do you have that feeling?And yet I can’t because they’r...
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Season 8
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Episode 444
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20:17
Finding Someone To Insult You
It should be easy to find someone to insult us, on social media, for example, or from among our snarkiest friends. I feel like I want to find someone every day, or let them find me, because they help me to see where I’m holding back, where I’m ...
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Season 8
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Episode 443
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20:19
Four Ways To Be Still In Difficult Moments
When something or someone upsets me, I’m quick to blame. I’m slower to remember to simply sit still, with upset, anger, fear, or sorrow.When I’m upset, sometimes I think I’m the only one who feels like I do, or who’s having the problems ...
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Season 8
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Episode 442
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20:18
Learning to Stop Strategizing
The more I learn about mindfulness, the more I realize I’m not solving for anything. I’m just learning to stop strategizing.The world is beautiful and full of love, and also, torn up by war, overwhelming, uncertain at best. To me the mos...
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Season 8
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Episode 441
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20:43
Groundlessness/Feet On The Ground
To me, groundlessness as a wisdom practice is challenging. It’s an invitation to forget every concept, let go of everything I know, and sit in the direct experience of my life. I love the idea. But as a practical matter, how do I m...
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Season 8
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Episode 440
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19:25
Meditation That Unlocks Wisdom
There’s a way that my habits and patterns block whatever wisdom I have. I think I know where to point, but my fear that the direction isn’t perfect, stops me. I think I know what to say, but perfectionism whispers, “what if that’s not it?”<...
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Season 8
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Episode 439
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20:03
Making Enthusiasm Cool Again
The trouble with letting my enthusiasm show is that most of the time I’m afraid I won’t look cool. I’ll be outed for being joyful in a world that’s scary and getting worse. Enthusiasm almost feels inappropriate.But what if enthusiasm is ...
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Season 8
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Episode 438
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18:27
Patience With Ourselves
I don’t know whether I’m more impatient with the world and the people in it, or with my own impatience. When I’m impatient with the world and my people, the antidote, patience, feels like it softens striving. And more: patience with...
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Season 8
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Episode 437
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20:00