The Wake Up Call for Lawyers

Episodes

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  A Loving, Fearless, Life 16.10.2026 17m

  Is this a world where we can be loving and fearless at the same time, no matter what? I ask myself that a lot. Conditions seem to be conspiring against us right now, don’t they? And yet…. And yet don’t we always have that choice? The choice to be loving, remembering that we’re all in this incredible mess together, and the choice to be fearless, remembering how to speak only the truth, and to speak truth to power, no matter what? In fact, if we aren’t loving and fearless right now, when ...
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  For the Love of Justice  09.10.2026 19m

  Motive matters. Intention matters. Impact matters. We know that. And, there are some things mindfulness invites us to consider, and practice, just for the love of it. Kindness, for the love of kindness. Generosity, for the love of generosity. Justice, for the love of justice. All of these, for the love of one other and the other creatures and our beautiful earth. Maybe that doesn’t always feel like enough. After all, we’re heavily programmed to seek result...
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  Solving for Anger 02.10.2026 19m

  Mindfulness never pulls any punches. There’s no leeway when it comes to anger. It’s not that there’s a prohibition against the feeling. That wouldn’t be realistic, or even healthy. But there is, against speaking angry words and acting out of anger. Instead, mindfulness invites us to solve for anger – “conquer” is the world in the teachings. If we can’t quite yet, then the instruction is to acknowledge and deal decisively with anger by shifting the mind: firmly and lovingly saying “no” t...
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  The Courage to Untangle 25.09.2026 20m

  Hi, it’s nice to be back. We had an amazing final retreat for our 2026 Mindfulness in Law Teacher Training. What a cohort! Already there are two new Mindful Lawyering courses in U.S. law schools, presentations happening in BigLaw, public interest, immigration, and elsewhere, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We couldn’t be prouder of our sixteen courageous new teachers. Meanwhile today’s chapter of the Dhammapada, the great mindfulness poem we’ve been unpacking on the Wake Up Call...
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  Avoiding Misfortune 11.09.2026 20m

  It’s one thing to be passionate about something that might make for a better world. It’s another thing to be passionate about power or wealth or influence. Probably we all have both kinds of passion. I know I do. But if I pay attention, I can feel the difference. In the mindfulness teachings, it’s considered unfortunate to nurture passion for anything that could cause harm. There’s no judgment because, like I said, probably we all do because…we’re human. The key is knowing the differenc...
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  Happiness in the Midst of Hate 03.09.2026 20m

  What is happiness when there’s so much hate and misery? Hate as in hate, but also hate as in anger, irritation, disparagement, aversion? And misery as in desperation? And what if these states are contagious? If my response to external hate is to volley right back, aren’t I just perpetuating sorrow? If my response to my own tight heart is to hate myself (or even to quietly chastise, or despair), same question. But then what’s the “happiness” shift? It has to be to care about those in mis...
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  What Else Can We Do But Sit Down? 28.08.2026 19m

  What else can we do but sit down, if we’re trying to cultivate a settled body and mind? What else can we do but sit down and meditate, quietly, each day, noticing our wild mind and our broken heart? I wish there was a book or a podcast or even a teacher, to show me another way. Maybe an easier way or at least a quicker one. For sure the good books and podcasts and teachers are wonderful, essential. But they’re still just pointing the way. No one can actually walk the path but me. And yo...
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  Is Mindfulness for Everyone? 21.08.2026 20m

  I have a sense of good fortune to know a little about mindfulness. I feel like if everyone knew a little, the world would be a better place. So maybe “Is Mindfulness for Everyone?” is a sneaky question because to me, the obvious answer is yes. But does everyone agree? No. For sure there are people who feel that paying attention, cultivating kindness, patience, compassion, and generosity, loving everyone, is either not possible or not appropriate. Or maybe not even useful. Are they missi...
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  Discovering Our Work 14.08.2026 20m

  The great news about mindfulness is that we’re all working on different things. It’s like the law, or any occupation. It keeps things interesting. With mindfulness, what this means for me is that at times I’m working on stabilizing my attention. At other times, I’m working on patience or compassion or generosity. There’s always something. The important thing is to not get caught up in the misunderstanding that I’m “done” training my mind, training my heart. After all these years,...
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  The ABC Rule – Always be Changing 07.08.2026 19m

  Sometimes I think, geez, I’ve done enough work. I don’t need to make any more changes. Been there, done that. And then I bump up against heartache or soreness in my body or anger or a pain in the tutu, as we say in our house. And my reflexive “no!” is right there, and I’m paddling away from the present moment as fast as I can. But then at some point, if I’m lucky, I remember: stop paddling! “No” isn’t a response to what is. It’s a response to the world – that and taking action – but to ...
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  The Consequences of…Everything 30.07.2026 20m

  There are times when I say something harsh or in anger. This feels hard to face and even harder to write, but it’s true – and maybe for you, too. For me there’s relief in facing and naming it. The consequences are also hard to face: the harm I’ve caused, and its boomerang effect. I don’t mean in some cosmic way, but right in that moment: the impatience that results in impatience, the scorn that flashes right back to me. Do you know what I mean? So I’m learning the consequences of anger and ha...
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  Right Now It’s Like This 24.07.2026 19m

  There’s such a temptation to treat mindfulness practice as something that’s getting me somewhere. But whenever I do that, I fall short. Sure, after all these years, I’m a little less reactive and a little happier. My set point has moved, a bit. But the distance I’ve come in 30+ years is hilariously short compared to the distance to go. Which is why it’s more peaceful, and useful, to remember that we’re not trying to get anywhere with our practice, and that it’s all about seeing th...
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  The Mischievous Mind 16.07.2026 20m

  I feel like most of us are trying to be good people: kind, caring, well-disposed towards others. So why doesn’t it turn out that way? Why don’t we have the power to simply be like that all the time? The problem may be with our mischievous minds. I don’t know about yours, but my mind is easily seduced by gossip, criticism, complaint, and a whole bunch of other nonsense. Is this just negativity bias? If so, is there positivity bias? If so, how do we cultivate that? This is what I’m trying...
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  The Thousands of Ways We Fool Ourselves 10.07.2026 20m

  I’m great at philosophizing and offering advice about how to be kinder, more compassionate, even wiser. But who am I fooling? My philosophy is theoretical, and honestly, on those topics, what’s anyone’s advice worth? Not much, because no one really wants to follow anyone else’s advice. But we all want to follow examples, especially the examples of people who know what to say, and do, and how, when someone is hurting, or scared, or hungry. Or at least I do. In the end I feel like it’s no...
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  Bringing Faith to Our 250th Birthday Party 03.07.2026 20m

  Faith is an old-fashioned word. Maybe its most well-known meaning is religious. But true faith predates religion. Ancient humans had faith in the earth, the animals, the stars. I don’t know much about that kind of faith, but I do know one thing: that I have faith in my own heart and mind, and in yours. I have faith in our ability to love, and to care, and to see, moment by moment, that we’re all just here for a moment, and that we’re all in this together – whatever is happening, a...
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  Freedom Means Being Honest With Ourselves 26.06.2026 20m

  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 say, through embarrassment and even shame, “It’s my fault. I see how that hurt you. I’m sorry. How can I make things right?” I admire myself when I’m honest like that, too. Even more than admiration, though, when I’m honest, apologize, and repair, there’s fr...
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  We Are All Such Beloved Fools 12.06.2026 20m

  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 fortitude to watch closely enough, over a long enough period of time (maybe a lifetime?), to see when foolishness is taking a beloved form, and when not. And to be humble when “not.” Which in my own investigation is *not* as infrequently as I’d like. Have y...
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  Acting Accordingly, and Other Good Ideas 04.06.2026 19m

  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 mind filled with hate, or love? When my heart is shut or my mind is filled (or even tinged) with hate, sadly, I act accordingly. When my heart is open and my mind is filled with love, or even tipped in that direction, I tend to act according to that. In t...
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  Overlooking the Faults of Others 29.05.2026 20m

  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 faults, or the fault lines. To always be on the lookout for what could go wrong, what could blow up, and who could be blamed. What a training. But only a training. Another training is to look at myself – for all of us to look at ourselves, and see what we’ve done or le...
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  Don’t Let Your Heart Run Scared 22.05.2026 20m

  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, my mind tends to run wild. Looking more closely, though, I realize it’s not so much mind running wild, as heart running scared. I see or hear something, and my heart automatically runs. Or contracts. And the mind follows, and the wildness starts. ...