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.

But if you look in the mirror and don’t see your own luminous mind – and heart - they’re all one system – maybe the clouds have rolled in. And in that case, maybe, just for a moment or hour or day or week, clear the sky, and protect your beautiful mind. Take a break from news media and social media. Choose a tall glass of soda water with lime, or a hot cup of tea. Watch that sun set, or watch the sun rise if you’re an early bird like me. Watch Ken Burns’ American Revolution (not a paid post, but it’s so inspiring). 

There’s wisdom not in turning away permanently – we have work to do! – but in taking a break. I’m taking a week off to welcome the 2026 class of the Mindfulness in Law Teacher Training to our first Intensive (!!), so the Wake Up Call will be dark next week. 

Happy Valentine’s Day. While you’re out buying chocolates, think about giving yourself a little love, too by giving your luminous mind a break. 

♥️♥️

Transcript

Hi everyone, it’s Judi Cohen and this is Wake Up Call #519. 

We’re exploring the Noble Eightfold Path at a moment when the country, and world, feel like they’re on shaky ground. I feel like these practices, the practices of mindfulness and of walking this Noble Path, can create an internal solid ground, though, even when, externally, things feel shaky. 

We’ve been looking through the group of the eight steps on the Path called Sila, the ethical steps, which includes Wise Communication, Wise Action, and Wise Livelihood. We unpacked Wise Communication in some detail and we’ve been doing the same with Wise Action, which includes doing no harm, not taking anything not freely offered, and not misusing sexuality, which we’ve looked at, not communicating unskillfully, which we looked at as a step itself (Wise Communication), and not using substances to cloud the mind. So now let’s look at this last step, not using substances to cloud the mind. Or another way of saying it is, protecting our clear, luminous minds. 

I love this step because it’s multi-faceted. I suppose originally it was oriented towards protecting the luminosity of the mind by paying attention to what we ate and drank, and as recently as a generation ago, still mostly about that, with drugs and alcohol. These days, there are so many ways to cloud our luminous minds. There are things we can eat or drink but there are also shows, there’s social and news media, maybe there are people and environments, too. So let’s unpack this. 

Drugs and alcohol are an easy starting place because they beg the question of whether this element of Wise Action enjoinsus from having a glass of wine or an occasional gummy. What I want to say is, as an overall proposition, I feel like this is an individual exploration which invites us, mainly, to understand what’s meant by clouding the mind. 

Do we mean a slight fuzziness? Total incapacity? Or something in between. A monastic has an absolute commitment against all fuzziness. But for lay people the invitation is first, about the other elements of Wise Action: are we are more likely to break or fail to follow the other elements of Wise Action? And second, are we clouding our luminous minds, that otherwise only need to settle and pay attention to recollect that we’re all in this together, hopelessly and hopefullyinterconnected, and so everything we say and do, including how we care for our minds, matters? Because no, we are not going to cause harm, which is the first element of Wise Action. The inquiry, like all of practice, is a loop. For me, it’s a powerful and beautiful one.

Picking through the ways we can cloud the mind – and there are undoubtedly plenty of others, but just the ones I’m naming, I trust that if I have one small glass of wine, feel relaxed, enjoy the wine and the company I’m having it with, enjoy the moment; and, I’m not more likely to cause harm (as long as I don’t drive); or to take anything not freely offered, or to be careless with my words or to engage in inappropriate sexuality. I can trust that it won’t cloud the luminosity of the mind: for me, one small glass. But may tell you that one glass will cloud the mind and cause you to turn away from Wise Action. Each of us has to look, with loving awareness, with courage, with grace, and see what’s true for us.

Next, what shows we you watching? My partner and I were all about spy and intrigue and then I noticed we were sniping at one another after a show because that was how the characters were speaking to one another. Now, when a show gets dicey, I tend to turn my attention elsewhere. Sometimes I miss the plot but it’s ok – I’d rather that, than snipe at my partner. Or sometimes we just watch something more wholesome. 

Timing matters, too. What might not dull the luminosity of the mind when there’s ease and wellbeing elsewhere, might cloud it now.  My daughter developed an affection/addiction to Law & Order SVU during the Obama years. These days she’s got on the British Baking Show. 

Social media feels like a lose-lose to me. I post as intelligently as I can, but I rarely look around because I get triggered. When I do, it’s only when I feel very well-resourced. Maybe your experience is different, so again, it’s personal. I do love that Australia and now France are prohibiting social media for kids and young teens, but I’m not too hopefully that’ll happen in the US anytime soon.  

The big thing for me these days is news media. I was a long-time NPR junky but about six months ago, I took a break. I still read three or four papers but I couldn’t listen. It was really impacting my mind. These days I’m listening again a little, and to balance things out, I don’t look at the paper until midday. I take the mornings to practice and calibrate, really to keep the mind clear. I know the news-clouds will inevitably move in, but to the extent that I can protect this mind from what sometimes feel like howling storms, just until it has a chance to ease into the day, that feels like a good idea. And I’ve never been a TV news person so that’s a non-issue for me but maybe it’s one for you. 

The last thing I want to mention is the law, where, by design, we live and work surrounded by conflict. It can feel like a war zone: every piece of writing, every call, every meeting, about, or tinged with the flavor of, winning or positioning to win. The combativeness in the air, and everyone sparring even in jest: what is this doing to our beautiful, luminous minds. Just naming it feels like I’m clouding the mind.  

But we can practice law and mindfulness, and let loving awareness remind us to take good care of our minds and hearts, and actually do that – take care of our luminous minds. That way we’ll survive and thrive, and we can better care for each other, too, and for our beautiful blue planet.