Our founder, Claire E. Parsons, offers insights, resources, and instruction on mindfulness and compassion regularly. But here we showcase stories from lawyers or other experts who offer broader insights about mental health wellbeing, and humanity in the legal profession.
How a Holiday Gift Pulled Me Out of Burnout
A post sharing a story of how one lawyer developed burnout and then worked out of it with fitness and meditation, all after getting a Peloton bike.
Book Review: Stolen Focus: by Johann Hari
A guest post with a review of Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, a book about how technology influences our attention and offers steps to make corrective change.
Turning Someday Into Now: My Guest Post about Writing a Book on Above the Law
An introduction and embedded link to a guest post by our Founder Claire E. Parsons for Above the Law and MothersEsquire about her journey to write a book.
1,000 DAYS, A MILLION REASONS & A MILLION WAYS: Saying Goodbye to Alcohol
A guest post from an attorney who quit drinking 1000 days ago with advice and strategies that helped do it.
How Do I Avoid Burnout? I Have Learned to Practice Renewal.
A guest post with tips on avoiding and preventing burnout for lawyers, law students, and other professionals.
Spirited, Moral Injury, and Examining the Concept of Redemption
This post contains references to suicide. It is published with permission from and deep respect for the family of the affected attorney. It is written by my dear friend, Robyn Smith, who I met in law school. Though we have handled cases on the opposite sides of the “v” for much of our practices, we…
Inspirational Interview with a Lawyer Who Climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro
An interview with lawyer, Christon Halkiotis, and our founder, Claire E. Parsons, about Christon’s trip to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Compliance with Care? How Intentional Lawyering Can Save the World
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by experienced employment attorney and friend of the blog, Bob Coursey. You’ll learn about Bob’s character and values just by reading this piece but for more detail check out his bio below. I was talking with a fellow management-side employment lawyer (who is also a friend) recently and…
Not Every Meditation Teacher Is for Everyone; An Interview about Eckhart Tolle.
In this interview, our founder, Claire Parsons, talks with her friend, Talar Heculian Coursey about influential teacher, Eckhart Tolle. Claire isn’t a superfan but Talar is. Check it out to learn more about Tolle’s teachings and style and to consider how teaching style can affect the way you’ve learned mindfulness.
Is Compassion for Others Different from Self-Compassion?
I spent a lot of time this summer thinking and writing about compassion. For much of the summer, I was writing my forthcoming book on mindfulness and compassion for lawyers (more details on that to follow). I also completed the Compassion Educator Certification course with the Compassion Education Alliance. In the midst of all this…
Severance: A Thought Provoking Show about Controlling Thoughts
How would it feel to be fully present at home, without a thought or worry about any work-related issue? How would you feel if you could experience that same presence while at work? If that sounds appealing, would you ever consider a procedure that could create complete work/life separation? That’s the premise of Severance, a…
Neurodiversity in Law Advocate, Haley Moss, Shares Her Thoughts on Extraordinary Attorney Woo
This blog usually encourages you to meditate, but in this post I’m going to make a recommendation that you may not expect: watch some Korean TV. You may have heard or watched Squid Game, but if that’s your only frame of reference you are missing out. Kingdom was a great political period drama but also…
Confidence in Job Searches: Interview with Legal Recruiter Bryan Silver
We are talking about confidence this month on the blog. What does that term mean to you as it relates to the work you do for attorney recruitment? In terms of my work, confidence means trusting my experience and skills enough to do the work involved in building rapport quickly with the best and brightest BigLaw Mid-Level…
Brilliant Attorney Profile: Hale Stewart Insurance Lawyer and Moving Meditator
One of the most common complaints I hear from new meditators is that they “can’t sit still.” My common refrain is that “you don’t have to sit still; you don’t even have to sit!” I’ve written about this before, but I am not sure I am the best emissary of this message. Stillness has never…
Resolutions Schmesolutions: In January I Just Begin Again
I used to have a love hate relationship with the New Year. In mid-December I’d start daydreaming about all the big changes I was going to make in January. I would feel hopeful – excited even – for the possibility of a fresh start. New exercise routine! Healthy eating! Plenty of water! I’m going to…
Can Mindfulness Help You Eat More Intuitively?
I spoke on a panel a few weeks ago about wellness for professionals with Kathryn Riner, a nutritionist and intuitive eating coach. I thought Kathryn sounded pretty down-to-earth and human as she spoke, and a lot of what she said rang true from my own experience with mindfulness. The timing was also too perfect to…
Yoga Has Been There the Whole Time
When Brilliant Legal Mind’s founder Claire Parsons told me September’s theme was yoga my immediate response was “I don’t really have a yoga practice anymore. I don’t really have anything to write about.” But then I read Claire’s post Confessions of a Reluctant Yogi and Aman Costigan’s post Yoga is More Than Just Stretching. Both…
Yoga Is So Much More Than Stretching
Editor’s Note: Welcome fellow lawyer, and yoga teacher, Aman Costigan, to the pages of Brilliant Legal Mind. As someone who loves yoga, she’s the perfect person to start off our month-long discussion of the practice. Yes, yoga helps with our flexibility and stretches out our body. But, it’s so much more to yoga than just…
How Mindfulness Helped Me Savor the Final Days of Summer
Even though it’s still hot outside, the days are starting to get a little shorter, kids are going back to school, and the stores are filling up with Halloween decorations. The signs are all around – summer is winding down. The sense of summer ending and the change it brings can bring anxiety and even…
Why Cultivate Compassion? Because It’s Not the Weight You Carry but How You Carry It.
Founder’s Note: I found Laura where I found a lot of other wonderful people I have never met in person: LinkedIn. She posted great content about compassion and so I connected with her. When she offered a CCT course this spring, I signed up even though it ended the week after I finished Mindful Self-Compassion…
Rethinking Self-Care: It’s a Practice
I used to roll my eyes every time I saw an article with “self-care” in the title. I was always ready with a snarky comment about the consumerism of the wellness industry and how it’s only for entitled women with endless time and money. I mean, Gwyneth Paltrow may have an entire evening to devote…
Stop The Shame Loop and Let the Process of Habit Change Unfold
I’ve never considered myself a very disciplined person. Let’s just say I’ve never met a french fry I didn’t eat, I hit the snooze button easily, and I’m always the one around the office you can count on to say yes to the impromptu lunch (abandoning the lunch I packed). Even with an established meditation…
Book Review: Quit Like a Woman by Holly Whitaker
I honestly don’t remember when or how I started following Quit Like A Woman (often shortened to “QLAW”) author Holly Whitaker on social media. It’s at least in part due to the fact that I’ve been giving a lot of thought in recent years about how much our work and social lives revolve around happy…
How Mindfulness Helped Me Learn to Ride the Wave in a Life Full of Transitions
Spring is about transition. The days are getting longer, the weather is warming up a bit, and we’re starting to shake off the winter blahs. For me right now, it is also about life transitions. I’m 44, I have 3 kids one of which had a kidney transplant as a baby, I left a job…