Within a wide swath of civil litigation can be found a common denominator: The tendency of people in contemporary American society to sidestep responsibility for their own happiness and well-being, instead looking toward external factors to blame for undesirable outcomes or consequences. Almost by definition, our predominant adversarial model of civil litigation encourages, cultivates, and solidifies […]
Author: Mike
In conducting more than two dozen mediation sessions in Alameda County Superior Court, what is most glaringly apparent is the extent to which mediation participants enter mediation with all-defined, hardened positions. Moreover, these individuals almost always are convinced that their interpretations of some event or events that have taken place in the past are the […]
Where holistic law practice has at its core wisdom borne from a grounded sense of being, it is only within the mediation forum that individuals are afforded the freedom and flexibility to access this wisdom and have this wisdom guide participants toward optimal dispute resolution. In contrast, formal litigation imposes strict rules (e.g., rules of […]
Partners facing marital breakdown typically are confronted with deep fears and insecurities that can trigger a wide range of emotional reaction. Divorce often has serious implications in family relationships, finances, daily routines, and can shatter one’s sense of security. Divorce involving children can magnify these challenges as well as pose serious long-term harmful consequences especially […]
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 primordial situations, if one were to just do […]
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 in such learned conditioning, we are far 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 she may also worry about how the future […]
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 their environments seeking food, shelter, procreation, etc. One […]
The arising of most life situations calling for legal action or intervention involves the coming together of innumerable factors over time. In order to craft and execute optimal legal solutions, it is necessary to consider as many of these pastors as possible. This incisive approach is the primary goal of integrating mindfulness in law practice. […]
Mindfulness and meditation free us from the narrow judgments and limited thoughts associated with ego, connecting us instead to boundless experience that we call “life.” Some people believe that this transcendent experience can arise only in the presence of very specific conditions, or when engaged in particularly “spiritual” activities. In reality, the opening of the […]