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
241 episodes
The Problem with Blame
The problem with blame is that it cuts into the heart. When I blame someone, I can feel it like a knife, cutting me as much as it cuts them. Blame sets the scene for conflict, and there’s already so much conflict.But when thoughts of bla...
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Season 10
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Episode 525
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20:06
The Power of Our State of Mind
Sometimes I don’t realize how powerful my state of mind is. I walk into the house or a meeting with something “on my mind,” and whatever that is, constructs my experience. I have no inherent animosity towards the person in the room, but because...
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Season 10
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Episode 524
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20:19
The Poetry of Mindfulness
I love mindfulness, partly for its promise of liberation, but also for the ways it helps me on a very practical level, to navigate through life. The lists and aspirations are a huge support, and a kind of blessing, especially right now.T...
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Season 10
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Episode 523
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19:46
The Big Topic of Intention
Seems like setting an intention to be kind and to not cause harm would be a simple thing. But then look at the world, and all of the devastating consequences that happen even when the responsible person claims their intentions were good. <...
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Season 10
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Episode 522
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20:03
Choosing a Point of View
It’s funny the way we toss around our points of view, as if we’re entitled to any which one. Or at least we feel like we are. It’s a free country, right?But wouldn’t it be better if we were more deliberate? And chose a point of view that...
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Season 10
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Episode 521
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20:03
Lawyering & Wise Livelihood
Sometimes I wonder if “wise livelihood” is possible in the law. Can we support ourselves and our organizations and not deal in intoxicants, poisons, weapons, or humans…given the many nuanced interpretations of those words? Including the ways we...
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Season 10
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Episode 520
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18:55
Un-clouding the Mind
The mind isn’t naturally cloudy. It’s naturally clear and luminous. If you’re in the habit of watching a sunset or looking into the faces of children or elders or the mirror, you probably already know: luminosity is right there, right here....
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Season 10
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Episode 519
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19:58
Practicing Respect for Everyone
There are so many subtle and not-subtle ways to disrespect other people. When I do it, I can feel the boomerang effect of disrespect. It creates a field. I feel like we’re seeing that play out in Minnesota, in Washington, in the world. It’s a t...
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Season 10
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Episode 518
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20:13
As If There’s Enough
I have enough. Sometimes I have to remind myself, but it is a fact. It’s not in question. There’s no world – at least in this moment – where my family goes hungry or sleeps on the street. How about you and yours?There is enough, for ever...
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Season 10
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Episode 517
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19:50
Random Acts of Non-Harming
I’m looking around. And it looks to me like there’s just so much harm. Not only our government, but also the ways it’s easy to mimic what’s happening on the national level, even when we don’t mean to: forgetting how much harm we can cause by no...
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Season 10
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Episode 516
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20:35
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How to Talk About…Everything
Happy New Year. I wasn’t sad to say goodbye to 2025, but I’d say 2026 isn’t starting off with any fewer challenges. Challenges or no challenges, though, we can set our personal tone. How about 2026 for a tone of kindness? What if we...
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Season 10
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Episode 515
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20:17
Make of Yourself a Light
Hopefully there will be small moments of peace as we enter the winter solstice in the global north, at the end of a challenging year. It will be dark…but there’s darkness everywhere. And there’s also light.Which is the invitation of mind...
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Episode 514
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19:41
The Possibilities of Concentration
Here we are in the heart of the holidays, and there’s also so much else going on. For me it’s crucial not to rely on finding moments of calm, but instead to remember to create them.We all probably do that when we can by settling...
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Season 9
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Episode 513
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20:16
How to Practice, Part II: Courage & Grace
If mindfulness begins with training our attention, what’s the recipe for its other components, courage and grace?For me, it begins with stillness. I get quiet and sometimes lovingkindness shows up. But sometimes what appears i...
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Season 9
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Episode 512
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20:16
Gratitude, 2025
It’s almost Thanksgiving in the U.S. so we’re supposed to be practicing gratitude. want to be doing that all the time, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Do you know what I mean?The world is just in a difficult place, and the trick...
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Season 9
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Episode 511
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18:34
Why Practice?
The thing about mindfulness practice is the benefits. I mean, that’s not the only thing - it’s not a benefit-driven endeavor. Hopefully there’s a little altruism mixed in.But the benefits are big. First, there’s the calm that arises when...
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Season 9
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Episode 510
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20:11
How to Practice
Congratulations to Tuesday’s election winners. For me it was a practice moment: feeling joy and hope, and not turning those into something else with regard to the losers. Which is a practice I can’t do without my basic, present mome...
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Season 9
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Episode 509
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19:59
Mindfulness, Love, Courage, and Grace
We know the practice: present moment awareness. But how do we practice when things are so rough and torn?First, with love. The invitation, moment by moment, is, can I bring not only awareness, but also love? Second, with cour...
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Season 9
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Episode 508
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20:21
The Path, Step Two: Wise Mindfulness
Now that everyone and everything is mindful (except the federal government), is mindfulness diluted? I was starting to wonder so I’m digging into the question, starting with, “What is mindfulness, or ‘wise mindfulness’?” which is the next step ...
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Season 9
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Episode 507
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20:30
Joyful Effort – The First Step
When I look out at the human landscape right now, it feels like joy is in short supply. Sometimes it’s present, but plenty of moments cry out for an infusion of joy. The first step, or one of the first, on the mindfulness path, is “...
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Season 9
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Episode 506
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19:01
The Path We’re Choosing
We’re all on one path or another. Sometimes it’s the path of least resistance. Sometimes it’s the yellow brick road. Sometimes, to slightly misquote Robert Frost, it’s the path least traveled.For me the point is, to choose. Which is what...
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Season 9
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Episode 505
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20:08
How to Let Go When the Ride is Bumpy
Good yontif you’re celebrating Yom Kippur. And to everyone, what is your day about today? What’s your intention for the day? And are you experiencing suffering?Not, are you experiencing pain and sorrow? We are all experiencing t...
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Season 9
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Episode 504
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19:56
The Cause of Suffering Right Now
What causes suffering? An ancient question with an ancient answer, and surprisingly, it’s not the hard things in life. It’s the way we think about them.It’s not the ridiculous amount of work on my plate or the unfair judge that causes su...
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Season 9
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Episode 503
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19:53
The Benefits of Suffering, Distress, and Other Difficult Moments
In classical mindfulness there are six different realms, including the human realm which is considered the best one in which to wake up. One of the reasons for that, is that it’s not easy being human. We get old, we get sick, we di...
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Season 9
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Episode 502
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20:09
Back to Basics: Setting the Wheel in Motion
There’s a misunderstanding that mindfulness is about suffering. The truth is, mindfulness is about the end of suffering and how to go there. It’s optimistic. Given the moment, that seems like something we can all use. Mindfulness o...
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Season 9
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Episode 501
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20:39
