Through evolution, as an important means of survival, it was often critical when faced with challenges in meeting our basic needs that we were able to identify a cause in the environment that we could then act upon to remove the current obstacle. In many of these
Read more →Law Practice
Mindfulness has at its core the cultivation of a heightened ability to consciously connect with present-moment experience. Doing this often involves a process over time of dis-identification from “ego” or thought-driven notions about how “I am” or “you are,” as a “separate” individual. When we remain stuck
Read more →Legal problems tend to involve life situations that may prompt examination of the past and fears about the future. In particular, one may begin to examine his or her role in bringing about the current situation a s a result of past actions and/or decisions. He or
Read more →The first noble truth in Buddhist philosophy is that life includes dukkha which is roughly translated from Pali by contemporary scholars as a sense of “unsatisfactoriness.” From an evolutionary standpoint, being “wired” with this sensitivity makes sense as an internal motivator for humans to venture out into
Read more →Human beings have succeeded in evolving as a species largely as a result of unparalleled intellect and problem-solving faculties. Our abilities to scan our environment for danger, conceive of and implement creative solutions, and learn from our experience have enabled us to thrive on this planet. We
Read more →When distilled to their roots, most legal problems, both civil and criminal, can be traced to thought-driven ideas of what one needs to obtain, achieve, realize, etc. in the future in order to be “happy” (and associated fear of what one thinks may happen if one fails
Read more →Almost by definition, involvement with our civil justice system presupposes the occurrence of some event perceptively violative of one’s conditioned notions of “right” and “wrong” behavior. Such circumstances can easily serve to trigger habitual reactions towards “unfairness” that may stem from early life experiences and conditioning. It
Read more →Through the cultivation of mindful attention to present-moment experience, we can begin to sense an inner peace grounded in being, apart from our thoughts, learned conditioning and habitual reactions. Initially this discovery of inner peace unconnected to external stimuli can feel extraordinarily liberating to those who have
Read more →In an industry as shrouded in mystery and misinformation as the legal industry, most anything out of the ordinary is met with a fair amount of skepticism. The public is confused enough when trying to define a “lawyer” versus “attorney” or “esquire.” When I introduce the concept
Read more →The nature of academic law training has at its core an emphasis of the solving of problems, mainly through the application of relevant common law, statutory law and regulations, etc. This is largely an intellectual exercise in which little attention is paid to the attorney’s role as
Read more →