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
221 episodes
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
What if Every Day Was the Most Ordinary Day of Your Life?
What does it mean to approach each moment, each day, as if it’s the most ordinary day? How would it feel to do that? And what if it’s not an ordinary day? What if it’s the day of a big trial, or your birthday, or the 500th ...
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Season 9
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Episode 500
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20:00
The Wake Up Call @499
The Wake Up Call @499Ten years ago, the Wake Up Call was an unlikely dream, of a place for those of us who were practicing both law and mindfulness, to be together. And here we are, at Wake Up Call #499.Ten years plus, of e...
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Season 9
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Episode 499
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18:43
The Relief of Not Being in Charge
I sometimes think the world would run more smoothly if I were in charge. Or let’s face it: I often think that. Do you? The problem, or one problem (because there are many), with this kind of thinking is, first I have to believe I kn...
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Season 9
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Episode 498
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19:56
Positive Regard for Undeserving People
There are people in the world who, at first glance (or second, or third), don’t seem to me to deserve positive regard. At all. Maybe there are people like that for you, too.But in an ancient tale, five people are traveling through the fo...
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Season 9
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Episode 497
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19:44
Playing With Untangling the Mind
Even when my intellect and emotional life feel like they’re in tune, I still have so many old, internal, tangles in my mind. And in any given moment, those tangles can cause me to tense up, grab hold, or turn away. My tangles were p...
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Season 9
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Episode 496
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20:21
Relaxing the Mind
What happens for you when your body or mind signals that it’s time to relax, and you pay attention to the signal? From a Netflix perspective, it might be just that: turn something on; turn off all the rest. That seems legit – I do it plen...
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Season 9
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Episode 495
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19:25
Ethical Choice : One Thing to Feel Good About
I feel like we’re trying, every day, to be kind, and ethical, and to serve well. We’re even taking the time to cultivate these qualities.And I also feel like when we fail, it’s hard. And even harder to turn towards the situation with cla...
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Season 9
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Episode 493
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19:58
Ethics in Uncommonly Difficult Times
Pretty difficult moment, and here we are at the 4th of July. How many more of these will we celebrate?But that’s not so much my question. My question is more about how I can do my best to be kind and to provide whatever benefit I can in ...
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Season 9
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Episode 494
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20:16
Conjuring Love Out of Adversity
In Zimbabwe, there’s almost 90% unemployment. In South Africa, there are the remnants of apartheid. America has cancelled US AID to the poorest of poor, and is about to tax a huge lifeline: money that gets sent home. Conditions on this amazing ...
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Season 9
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Episode 492
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19:34
Letting Generosity Set the Tone for What Follows
I wonder about the power of generosity to set the tone of the law, or change it.Right now, we’re everyone to their corner and then knives out. What if we could be passionately on the sides of clients, causes, justice, but in a diff...
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Season 9
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Episode 491
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19:20
Could These Be Three Elements of Peace?
Not much can change on the global scale, or even in my community (or even in my house), if I’m not thoughtful and intentional about my own personal behavior. I know that. You probably know that, too. But I’d also say, not much can ...
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Season 9
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Episode 490
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19:29
Making Peace with Dread (The Personal Kind)
Recently I said something snarky and it got back to the person.For the whole day, I dreaded what would happen. When the worst did happen, I felt even worse: a slow, painful remembering of how imperfect I am, despite all the striving. And of how...
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Season 9
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Episode 489
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18:42
Sending Some Love to Earth
I hear a lot about sending love to humans, being kind and appreciative and compassionate to teachers, loved ones, friends…even enemies. I hear less about sending love to the earth. Yet of all beings (if the earth is a being, and is...
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Season 9
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Episode 488
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19:53
Accessing Our Love, and Other Challenges
Are we “cultivating” love, compassion, and joy, or do we already have plenty and just need to access it? If we have plenty, and just need to learn how to access it, what’s in the way of doing that? For me, it’s wanting to hold onto...
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Season 9
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Episode 487
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19:55
Wisdom and Not-Wisdom in Action, Plus Sweet News
There’s “ordinary” news: market whiplash; leadership/not leadership; greed, hatred, and delusion. But there’s sweet news, too: the child of a friend and benefactor who cleans houses for living - a child who’s been planning to be a ...
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Season 9
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Episode 486
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16:21
Commitment Versus Attachment
When I feel committed, it gives me purpose, energy, direction. But to fulfill my commitment, especially if someone else is committed to the opposite cause, I need to understand all angles, all sides. I need to not let disdain and scor...
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Season 9
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Episode 485
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17:42
Signaling Safety with Mindful Communication
Signaling that we’re mindful, whether we’re speaking, writing, posting, or messaging, is simple.There’s no lying, denying, or blame. There’s no harm done. We’re remembering that what we say and do, matters. We’re not gossiping, just shar...
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Season 9
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Episode 484
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19:03
An Appropriate Response?
What is an appropriate response when I get something I don’t want, or don’t get what I do want?Bully the person I “think” is responsible? Chastise, criticize, frighten, and ruin them I’m following the Chief Justice and going with no....
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Season 9
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Episode 483
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19:57
Making Peace Out of Chaos
I don’t know what we can do in this moment except stay in the boat, and when we get tossed into the ocean, grab the hull and crawl back inside to safety. That’s how it feels to me right now.But I wonder if there’s another way to safety.<...
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Season 9
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Episode 482
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19:19
The Radical Act of Abandoning Hate
Emotions are running high. Western mindfulness, quoting Rumi, says, ill will, anger, even hate: “Welcome and entertain them all….They may be clearing us out for some new delight.”The ancient mindfulness texts aren’t as big on this. They ...
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Season 9
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Episode 481
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19:45
