The Wake Up Call for Lawyers
Episodes
253 episodes
Freedom Means Being Honest With Ourselves
It’s astonishingly easy for me to lie. “I didn’t say that, I didn’t mean that, you misunderstood.” “I’m sorry you feel that way,” instead of, “I’m sorry I’ve hurt you.” I admire people who are honest about their impact and can...
We Are All Such Beloved Fools
The fool can beloved or not. Beloved fools are open-hearted and cultivate “don’t know” mind. Not-so-beloved fools think they know something, or know better, or are better. What I can see, so far, is that takes courage and fort...
Acting Accordingly, and Other Good Ideas
It’s one thing to practice and study mindfulness. It’s a great thing. It’s another to act accordingly. What happens when you’re in the courtroom or conference room or family room? Does your heart stay open, or clamp shut? Is your mi...
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Overlooking the Faults of Others
It’s not like we don’t know we’re supposed to do that. It’s not like I don’t know. But it so much easier, maybe even reflexive, to notice the faults of others. To be fair, it’s also part of legal training: to look for the f...
Don’t Let Your Heart Run Scared
I notice that far too often, I let my mind run wild. I don’t mean I’m completely undisciplined – I have a meditation practice and you probably do, too. So we’re not completely undisciplined. But I don’t know about you: when I look at the news, ...
Taking Joy in a Knock on the Nose
My general reaction to those little life lessons, the AFOGs, has not been delight. Instead, I’ve often felt affronted or like I’ve messed up or failed. I’m starting to see how to meet those lessons a little differently, though: with...
Mindfulness on the Ground
It feels supportive to share about what we’ve read or come to understand about kindness and connection. I’m as guilty as the next person of doing that – probably more guilty. Just ask me – I’m happy to share. But the real wisdom is ...
Creating Happiness
Creating happiness when so much seems to be crumbling before our very eyes – sometimes that feels like a challenge. But what works for me is the moment-to-moment feedback loop. When I speak and act with goodness, even in conflictual...
Truth and the Heart: Seeing is Healing
Here I am, again, my heart all bound up in some petty dispute. For the millionth time, I see, and feel, tightness, closed-up-ness: this old heart trying to protect itself. It takes so much effort. It feels like I’m shoving an old bureau in fron...
Worthiness
Sometimes I feel like we take for granted the privilege we have as lawyers, law professors, judges, and mediators. Or that we’re not worthy of our power. Or that I’m not.Because what is privilege if we forget that we’re all in this toget...
How Attention Creates Stability
The more attentive I am, especially to this mind running amuck, the more stable I feel. If I’m off on my latest adventure, surfing for that pair of shoes I just have to have or baking those cookies I just have to eat, there’s so much tug and pu...
Knowing our Fate, How Can We Quarrel?
I can take a stand on just about anything. It’s not just that I’m trained to argue. It’s also that as a human, I have preferences. And they don’t necessarily match what the world offers up. So I’m as guilty of quarreling as the next...
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...
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...
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...
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. <...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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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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...
