How to Be Sure Your Teacher Knows Meditation

Recently, I had a blast from the past when I did a guided meditation with Lil Jon. I had heard that Lil Jon, who I had known only as a rapper and producer, had released an album of guided meditations (paid link). When I saw Peloton offer a guided meditation with him, I decided to give it a shot.

I have to be honest that Chelsea Jackson Roberts, a renowned teacher of yoga and other mind-body practices, did most of the heavy lifting on this particular meditation. Lil Jon offered a few words, but he didn’t truly guide the practice. And this is when I started pondering.

How Do You Know If Someone Knows Meditation?

This post is not about yucking anyone’s yum when it comes to meditation. There are a lot of ways that people can come to offer guided meditations and spiritual teachings. If people like Lil Jon bring people to meditation with their enthusiasm, then that is a good thing.

With that said, many people offer practices and mindfulness tips on the internet without training or even a regular meditation practice. Some of these individuals, like Lil Jon admits on the first track of his album, are upfront about these things but some are not.

In case you are wondering how you can tell if a teacher is a good source for meditation advice, here are some questions to ask.

1. What is your personal meditation practice like?

Training and education are important for anyone who wants to teach, but regular practice is still essential. Even after more than 1000 hours of training in mind-body practice, I can easily say that most of what I know about meditation came from meditating. Meditation is something that can make an impact even if you only do it for a little while. Yet, it’s also a skill that is best kept sharp.

Where possible, learning about a teacher’s practice, including style, number of years, typical session length, and retreat experience, can help you decide if they can support you. If you want to make a practice a long-term habit, it really helps to be guided by someone who has created one for themself.

2. What is the lineage of your teaching?

Meditation can mean a lot of things. Even within Buddhism, there are numerous lineages of teachings and meditation practices. Outside of this, there are still more.

I have an eclectic background myself, so I don’t profess to tell you which lineage is best here. However, if you are working with a meditation teacher or using a lot of their meditations, it helps to know the source of their teachings. In general, quality teachers will be upfront about this. If they aren’t, ask a question or do some Googling.

Image with question that asks how you know whether a person offering guided meditations knows what they are doing

3. What teacher training have you done?

If there’s one thing I hate about the legal profession, it’s the elitism some people display about law schools. I’m not here to apply that same elitism to meditation teacher programs, in part because I have done a variety of trainings and benefitted from them all.

With that said, you ought to consider whether the teacher you are working with has any training in meditation itself. Many yoga teachers offer meditation, but many basic (200-hour) yoga teacher trainings don’t offer instruction in meditation.

Likewise, it helps to know how many hours of training overall your teacher has done. If you are able to investigate the course requirements, it may also help you determine if the teacher’s training is enough for you.

4. Do you have other training that informs your teaching or use of meditation practices?

One thing that irritates me about discussions of meditation on the internet is that they are often oversimplified. Well-meaning people suggest that meditation is easy or make claims about it’s benefits that aren’t always justified. Even more common is that people fail to account for the risks, counter-indications, and adverse effects that go along with meditation.

For this reason, it is good to know if your teacher can help you modify practice or ensure your safety if you have past trauma, neurodivergence, or other health concerns. It may also help to know if your teacher has any special training in things relating to meditation, including mental health, fitness, yoga, compassion, or other modalities.

An image listing the questions from the blog post intended to help you determine if your teacher knows meditation

5. Do you teach meditation in any way besides offering guided meditations?

There is a difference between teaching meditation and guiding meditation. With a good script, a person with a nice voice and calm demeanor could easily guide a pretty relaxing meditation. The problem is that such a person may not have the training to know which practice to offer when or how to watch a student or audience for signs of distress.

If you are confident in your own ability to select meditations that work for you and modulate yourself in practice, this may not pose much of a risk. However, there may be a limit on what such a person could offer if you have questions about practice or need more support as your practice evolves. If this concerns you, ask whether the person teaches, with explicit instruction or talks, in addition to guiding meditation.

6. What ethical or accreditation standards guide your teaching?

Lawyers have ethical rules that guide our conduct with clients. When it comes to spiritual teachers and guides, ethical standards are much less universal. Some yoga teachers may be subject to ethical rules if they are members of accrediting organizations like Yoga Alliance. Likewise, teachers who are also mental health providers or affiliated with a Buddhist organization are likely subject to ethical requirements.

Many other teachers, even certified teachers, may not be subject to any written ethical codes. Of course, this does not mean that such teachers are unethical or unqualified. It may mean, however, that you must ask to determine if the teacher’s ethical values align with your needs.

Conclusion

This post is not intended as an outline to cross-examine anyone who offers guided meditations. My goal is to make meditation more accessible and not to serve as a gatekeeper for meditation practice.

With that said, there are many people who offer meditation or talk about mindfulness concepts and not all of them have training or experience. I offer this post to help you get curious about the people who may be supporting your practice with teachings or guided meditations. Use the questions to satisfy your curiosity, meet your personal needs, and protect your safety.

Want to learn more about mindfulness and compassion? Check out my new book, How to Be a Badass Lawyer, for a simple guide to creating a meditation practice of your own in 30 days. And to share mindfulness with your little one, check out my new children’s book, Mommy Needs a Minute.

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How to Meditate When You Can’t See Mental Images

If you aren’t a writer, artist, or meditation teacher, you may not have investigated how clear mental images are for you. I have long known that I am not a “visual person” but I didn’t realize how “not visual” I am until I tried to meditate. Mental imagery for me is, at best, hazy and short-lived and requires intentional effort.

Most people may not think this is a big deal, but I do because I am a meditation teacher and a writer. Anyone who meditates has likely come across some visualization techniques in meditation practice. Because I meditate, I am acutely aware of my own past struggles with these practices. I couldn’t avoid them entirely, however, because many heart practices, including my favorite loving-kindness, use some form of visualization.

This is why I looked closer at the issue and got training in neurodiversity-informed mindfulness to understand it better. Based on this, I have learned to modify my meditation practice to work around my inability to visualize. This post will identify the tips that worked for me.

1. Meditate on Your Mental Visual Ability

Did you know that there is a condition called “aphantasia” which refers to the inability to see mental images? If you haven’t heard of this, you aren’t alone. I had only discovered it recently myself. Aphantasia is not a mental disorder or something that necessarily indicates a health condition. Instead, it’s just a way to describe one’s relative ability to see mental images.

Image with a self-test for aphantasia that can help you identify how strong your ability to visualize mental images

Test Option A

The good news for all of us is there is a handy test for exploring your ability to visualize yourself. As the image here shows, bring an apple to mind. Consider how detailed it is. Can you see color, shape and details? How long does the image stay in your mind? How easy is it for you to hold it there?

Test Option B

Another way to consider this is to talk about it with others. I started to understand the impact of my mental visual ability better when I was training to teach mindfulness and compassion. After one guided practice, a classmate described an elaborate image of a butterfly with beautiful colors graceful fluttering wings.

Based on both categories of tests, I don’t have aphantasia but I know that I am pretty close to it. I can see images but they are glimpses at best and I have to work really hard to hold them in my mind. My mind would never generate an elaborate image of a butterfly even if I tried really hard.

2. Don’t Judge Yourself

You may have already guessed what I am going to say next. Yeah, that’s right, this is where self-compassion has to join the party. To be honest, I felt a little jealous when I heard my classmate talk about her beautiful butterfly. It sounded cool. I wished I could see it myself.

But, I avoided judging myself and not just because the course in which this discussion happened was about teaching compassion cultivation. When my classmate shared her story, it helped me share my own. I am not blessed with mental visualization but I have other strengths (as I’ll discuss below).

If I focused too much on my reactions of what I couldn’t do, I risked missing the chance to explore what I could do. Beyond this, it’s not like self-judgment or criticism would help. Thus, my advice when considering your own ability to visualize is to avoid judging yourself.

Image with a quiz that allows self-reflection of mental imagery, including how detailed, how clear and vivid, how easy it is to hold, and how long the imagery lasts

3. Meditate on Other Areas of Strength

If there was a test like the one above for the ability to detect physical sensations in the body, I would get high ratings. After I got comfortable with my body and learned to attend to it, I realized that my awareness of felt sensations is strong. I can note subtle differences in sensation, hold my attention on them for a long time, and this comes without effort.

Similarly, when it comes to verbal and auditory processing, I am pretty sensitive. My mind doesn’t think in pictures but words are ever present. Music affects me deeply and the auditory quality of words is a skill I rely on frequently in writing, public speaking, and crafting guided meditations.

This goes to show that a relative lack of ability in one area is not the same as a lack of ability overall. Even if you aren’t a visual person, you may have other strengths. Taking the time to identify other strengths may help you explore how to address a relative lack of visual ability.

4. Lean on Your Strengths as You Meditate

One approach for those of us who are not visual is simply to avoid meditations with visualization. For elaborately imaginative practices, I admit that this is generally what I do. This is not, however, my approach with for all styles of practice.

Because my ability to feel physical sensations is robust and comes easily to me, I have a come up with my own meditation hack. What this boils down to is that I don’t take the word “visualize” literally. When I am told to “visualize” something, I don’t force a mental image. Instead, I connect with the felt sense of something.

How to Visualize When You Can’t Visualize

For example, if I am told to visualize being outside on a nature walk, I don’t try to force images of grasses, trees, and the sky in my mind. Instead, I connect with the sensory and kinesthetic memory of walking in nature. I imagine the internal experience of walking in nature in terms of physical sensations.

If this sounds complicated, remember that physical sensation is easy for me. It may be complicated to describe in words but it is easy for me to do in practice. Even better,I can still participate in the meditation and get the same benefits all while doing it my way.

“Visualizing” Someone’s Presence for Loving-Kindness

I do something similar when it comes to loving-kindness. With that style of practice, the common instruction is to bring someone to mind and to allow that mental imagery evoke feelings in your heart area. For me, though, I cut out the middle man because imagery doesn’t help.

Instead, I bring someone to mind by name and connect with the felt sense of their presence. In particular, I may invoke a memory of how it feels to be in that person’s presence or I may notice the felt sense that emerges upon bringing their mind to name. Since loving-kindness practice includes consideration of felt sensations in the body, this style is fairly simple to modify for those of us who aren’t visual.

An image for modifications to meditation practice for those who don't see mental imagery or have limits in their ability to do so

5. Explore Other Options When You Meditate

My last point here is a simple reminder to keep exploring and being curious. I recently started exploring meditation with my eyes open and I was shocked to discover that it made mental images during meditation more vivid. I would have thoughts having content in my visual place would make inner visualizations impossible for me.

Upon investigation, though, I found that the opposite was true. Not only could I tell the difference between actual visual content and mental visual content, but also the mental visual content seemed more robust. What does this mean?

The big lesson here is that the procedures of your practice can influence your meditation experience. If you close or open eyes, listen to meditations or music, or sit or lie down, it very well may affect your inner experience. If you struggle with some aspect of practice or just get curious, it can be fun and eye-opening (pun intended) to see what a new mode of practice offers.

Conclusion

If mental imagery is not strong for you, it does not mean you can’t meditate. It doesn’t even mean that you can’t do meditations which include visualization. All of us are wired differently with various strengths and challenges. With self-compassion and curious exploration, you can learn ways to modify meditation practice even if visualization is not your strength.

If you would like to assess how visual you are, try this Guided Reflection. It will help you explore your capacity for visual imagery to your capacity for awareness of physical sensations. You can listen on YouTube here or on Insight Timer.

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Inside Out 2 Reveals These 5 Truths about Anxiety

Cover image for blog post entitled Inside Out 2 Reveals These 5 Things About Anxiety

I saw Inside Out 2 last week with my kids. If I am being honest, though, I saw the movie for my own enjoyment as much as theirs. Pixar movies always make me cry but they usually make me think too. In this case, the movie made me think about anxiety and mental health.

Of course, I am no stranger to anxiety. I have had it for most of my life, though I didn’t know how to label it properly until well into my 30’s. For this reason, I am glad Inside Out 2 is helping kids (and adults) think and talk about anxiety.

Here are the five truths about anxiety that the movie illustrates well.

1. Anxiety is different from fear.

Inside Out 2 starts when the main protagonist, Riley, turns 13. The movie demonstrates this formative time by introducing new “characters”: Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy, and Ennui.

Any Inside Out fans may find this odd, since Fear was already a character. As the movie correctly explains, though, fear and anxiety are different. Fear often relates to external situations, while anxiety relates to our inner experience.

In the film, Anxiety becomes obsessed with Riley’s social status as a way to manage her nerves heading to middle school without her two best friends. Though Fear sees some logic behind this mission, even he’s at a loss about the lengths to which Anxiety goes in pursuit of it.

The lesson for all of us watching, of course, is that anxiety and fear aren’t the same. They may arise for different reasons and lead to different consequences.

Image comparing anxiety and fear to shed light on what it means for our mental health

2. Anxiety wants control.

The next truth about anxiety in Inside Out 2 is hard to miss. Anxiety wants control. In the movie, Anxiety shows up and promptly commandeers Riley’s control panel. When the elder emotions we’ve come to know and love object, Anxiety bottles them up (literally) and ships them to Riley’s subconscious.

The tricky thing about Anxiety, though, is that she’s not a traditional Disney villain. She’s got a sweet vulnerability about her and she truly thinks she’s doing what is best for Riley. As we see, though, the quest for the “best” leads Riley to turn on her friends and behave unethically and inauthentically.

The resounding point made from all of this is that craving control is inherent to anxiety.

3. Control only creates more anxiety.

Anxiety quickly gets what she wants in Inside Out 2. She takes control and gets exactly what she wants. This should be the end of the movie, right?

Anyone who has experienced anxiety knows that, of course, this is wrong. Anxiety (the character and the emotion IRL) is never soothed by control. Instead, the more control anxiety gets, the more it craves.

As the movie shows, Anxiety assumes the control panel and immediately concocts schemes to get more control. She initially inspires Riley to raise in social status on her new team. When Riley finds a footing with new friends, Anxiety them pushes her to become the best on her team. Soon after, the goal escalates to the best in the team’s history.

In the end, Anxiety becomes so obsessed with schemes and effort that she creates a little spiral in Riley’s mind and a panic attack that leaves her frozen in fear. What this shows us is that what anxiety is often self-perpetuating. When anxiety gets more control, it is inflamed rather than pacified.

Image conveying the double bind created by anxiety which affects the mental health of many people

4. Letting go is the (super annoying) answer to anxiety.

I know it is truly obnoxious for a meditation teacher to tell a bunch of lawyers this, but the answer to anxiety is learning to let go. Fortunately for me, the people at Pixar seem to agree.

For some of us, it might have been satisfying to watch Joy, Sadness, Anger, and Disgust tag-team to knock Anxiety out, bottle her up, and jettison her to the subconscious. That’s not what happens though, probably because it wouldn’t really work.

Instead, to calm the spiral that Anxiety created, all the emotions circle around Riley’s sense of self and hold it. Riley breathes and calms herself as this happens. When she comes back to herself, she admits her anxiety to herself and her friends and begs forgiveness.

This part of the movie is far more cathartic and satisfying to watch than it is to experience in real life. Letting go is the hardest lesson that anyone with anxiety can learn. Still, the truth remains, that letting go and learning to be with anxiety (which may include help from others) is an answer to it.

Image with a quote that says Letting go is an answer to anxiety but it is one of the hardest things to learn

5. Anxiety is a part of life.

Since it is a kids movie, it’s not too much of a spoiler to say that Inside Out 2 ends on a happy note. Riley learns a life lesson. She takes a step forward into adolescence. And she seems to find some sense of peace as she navigates the tricky social system that is middle school.

The principal blocking force of the movie, though, is still there. Anxiety doesn’t go away at the end of the movie. There’s no guarantee that Joy will resume her place as the guiding force in Riley’s life. There’s no doubt that even more complicated emotions are poised to greet Riley as she gets older.

One can only assume that Anxiety will claim control again and, at times, wreak havoc. This is the last and, perhaps, hardest truth from Inside Out 2. For many of us, and definitely for myself, anxiety is not something that goes away. It’s a part of life for many of us.

If we are lucky, like Riley, we might be able to start recognizing how it shows up in our lives and where it leads us. We can then ease back, take a breath, ask forgiveness, get help, course correct, and then move forward.

Conclusion

Inside Out 2 may be a kids movie with a classic coming of age story about growing up. If you pay attention, though, the movie reveals truths about mental health for all of us regardless of our age. Though it is a cute cartoon family film about a young teenager, it offers lessons about anxiety, control, acceptance, and letting go that can benefit us all.

Want to try some meditation practices to help you hold and be with anxiety? Check them out here or on Insight Timer.

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Lessons from My Lawyer Dad that Could Have Come from a Meditation Teacher

This post was originally published a couple of years ago. I read it again and it still rings true. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads of all kinds and father figures out there!

My lawyer dad doesn’t know a thing about mindfulness, but he’s still one of the best meditation teachers I have ever had. He’s steady, hard-working, kind, and decent. He’s not closed off to new ideas, but he favors tradition. In this way, he has rarely sought out new practices and approaches to help manage his life.

Dad worked as a lawyer for or with local governments his whole career and he loves things like procedure, budgets, and finance. As an introvert, he’s rarely the life of the party, but people listen when he talks because they know he thinks first. He was picked on in school because he grew up on a farm in a small town called Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, so he usually prefers not to stand out.

My Lawyer Dad Was Not into Meditation but He Taught Me Good Lessons

For these reasons, my dad would never seek out information about mindfulness and he has never tried meditation. Dad only knows that mindfulness has helped me quite a lot in my life and it makes me happy to teach and write about it.

You know what? That’s just fine. In the Pali canon, it is said that there are 84,000 doors to enlightenment. I take that to mean that we have options and various interconnected winding paths that can lead us to growth and fulfillment as long as we stay open to learning from what comes to us along those paths.

My dad doesn’t know a thing about meditation. Still, as one of my first mentors in life, he prepared me to benefit from it. Many of the lessons he taught me are similar to those I learned in my meditation practice or from meditation teachers. In honor of Father’s Day and to celebrate my lawyer dad, I am sharing them with you here.

Image with quote from the blog post about mindfulness and the importance of openness in family and professional life

1. Simple is good.

My dad’s favorite ice cream is vanilla. His favorite snack is saltine crackers. His beverage of choice: ice water. Sometimes he mixes things up but he usually keeps things simple. Sometimes this simplicity can be magical.

He makes the best fried chicken I have ever had anywhere and he doesn’t bother with the Colonel’s 11 secret herbs and spices. His recipe is just salt, pepper, and flour. That’s it.

In my years of meditation, I’ve adopted the same approach. I’ve tried lots of different styles and practices. Most of the time I just like to sit and relax into the silence. I’m so glad I learned early on from my dad that simple is good.

2. It’s okay to be quiet.

If you are a meditator, it helps if you have at least a decent relationship with silence. When I teach about mindfulness, people often ask me if I am naturally calm. I tell them, emphatically, that I absolutely am not. But I have one secret advantage: I love silence. Silence isn’t lonely to me. It’s peaceful. It makes me feel at home.

I’ve never had trouble with silence because my dad always liked it too. He often drove with the radio turned off. He would read for hours on end. In a world that constantly wants to make noise, my dad taught me that it was okay just to stop and be still. That’s perhaps the first lesson that any new meditator needs to learn, so thanks dad.

A quote about how meditation is a practice for life so there is no need to rush results

3. Don’t be a martyr.

I’ve written before about struggling after the birth of my first daughter because she was tongue-tied and I couldn’t breastfeed her. During that time, I remember my dad saying this to me:

Claire, you will have her whole life to make sacrifices for her. I don’t have any doubts that you will be willing to do that most of the time. You don’t have to try to make all the sacrifices all at once right now.

Achiever types like us lawyers love to set standards and meet them. That tendency can easily turn to martyrdom if we aren’t careful. It can also show up in meditation practice. So, remember this lesson from my dad: you have a whole life to practice. You don’t have to do it all at once. Trust that you will make the right choices as you go along and give yourself some grace.

4. Fear is a part of life.

My dad was a successful and respected civil servant with decades of experience. After he retired, he went into private practice, just a few years before I graduated from law school. I remember sharing with my dad that I was scared about business development and my dad gave me the best response possible: he admitted that he was scared of this too.

To see someone who had accomplished so much admit that he was afraid helped more than any pep talk that simply told me “you can do it.” It helped me understand that fear is just a part of life and it has nothing to do with your competence or chances of success.

As you start meditating, you may think that you “get over” or “advance beyond” difficult emotions. Not so in my experience. As human beings, we never get over things like this no matter how hard we work or how awesome we are. But, as my dad helped me see, fear is a part of life, but it helps when you can share it.

A quote from the blog post about how mindfulness can help us persist through disappointments and hardships

5. Don’t quit just because your ego gets bruised.

I loved basketball growing up and as a very tall kid I was pretty good at it. In high school, though, the competition caught up with me and my coordination and skill didn’t grow at the same pace as my height. I had an injury my sophomore year that benched me all season. My tryouts during junior year didn’t go well and, though I missed getting cut, I ended up on the JV team.

I was so ashamed that I was in a pit of despair for a week and contemplated quitting. My dad told me that I didn’t have to play but that I shouldn’t quit just because I was mad or felt embarrassed. He reminded me that basketball was a sport and was, you know, supposed to be fun.

I ended up deciding to play and had so much fun with the younger players. As team captain, I was able to be a leader in a way I never had before. That season was one of the best sports experiences I ever had because of this opportunity to lead.

In our meditation practice, we may get upset when we struggle because it hurts our ego when we find we can’t do it perfectly or advance as quickly as we’d like. Of course, if you can keep going, you may learn an entirely different lesson than the one you started out to discover.

6. Any moment can be a teachable moment.

I was a kid who asked a lot of questions. Deep questions, usually starting with the word “why.” It didn’t matter how out of the blue it was. It didn’t matter if my dad was cooking dinner or working in the yard. He didn’t skip a beat. He’d answer the questions and a lot of time throw some back at me to force me to think through the issue myself.

Lots of meditation teachers will tell you that any moment can teach you about yourself if you keep your mind and heart open. In the same way, my dad’s constant comfort with questions and unwavering willingness to teach showed me that any moment in my life could be a learning moment.

A picture wishing everyone a happy father's day

Though for many, meditation can feel strange at first and many may worry that the practice may change them. In my own experience, I have found that meditation didn’t change me but allowed me instead to connect more deeply with who I really was. This is why it’s no surprise that my dad’s wisdom and the wisdom from so many wonderful teachers lines up. I

f there are 84,000 doors to enlightenment, I am glad that I found one running to me that started on a farm in Rabbit Hash, Kentucky. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads, step-dads, foster parents, and father surrogates out there. Thank you for teaching us kids in your own way about mindfulness, meditation, and life.

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Playfulness Is the Best Attitude for Meditation

There is a word that I have heard all the best meditation teachers say about meditation. As the title of this post would suggest, that word is “play.” On retreat and in courses, I have heard the teacher frequently offer some wisdom then encourage further study by suggesting we “play with it.”

When I first heard comments like this as someone new to mindfulness, my lawyer brain didn’t quite get it. I was looking for a direct path. I wanted clearer guideposts. Beyond this, I was trying to manage real life challenges, like stress, overthinking, and anxiety. How could playing possibly help me with problems like this?

Playing in meditation can do a lot of good.

Years of practice and training have changed my mind. In fact, cultivating a sense of play can in fact help you a lot. As I have written before, many of us lawyers and other type A people, innately may think that discipline and hard work is the way to go when we start meditation. I thought that too, but now I think that self-discipline is overrated when it comes to meditation.

I’m not the only who thinks this either. Thich Nhat Hanh, possibly one of the most beloved ambassadors of mindfulness in the modern era, famously reminds us to “smile” in life and meditation. Renowned teacher and psychologist, Tara Brach, does the same thing. Many of her meditations intended to release students from deep-seated emotional pain start with visualizing the image of a smile.

Even Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind, tells us to bring an “effortless” quality into our practice. Though that book includes many reminders to be disciplined in posture and breath, it otherwise encourages us to relax and let meditation itself be “nothing special.”

Image with quote that says "Meditation is hard, so let your attitude be easy"

Why is a playful attitude important?

So why is play so important in meditation? One reason is that meditation practice is hard, or at least it can be. The practice is simple, but it often involves retraining our minds. As most of us know, changing habits is challenging and can take time.

If we go charging into meditation with big ideas of instant calm and a clear mind, most of us are bound to be disappointed. Trying the practice, instead, with an attitude of kind curiosity can inspire the desire to practice more. With this attitude, you can try things out, see what works, and what doesn’t.

On the other hand, though, a playful spirit also may help you avoid putting too much pressure on yourself. Pressure kills the curiosity and openness that allows for clear awareness and it certainly is not helpful for cultivating compassion.

An image defining what is meant by a playful attitude in meditation

But what does a playful attitude mean?

Now you may be wondering, what does “playfulness” even mean when it comes to meditation? For example, how would one know if their sense of play went too far and instead became silliness?

First, it’s important to note that I am talking about this idea in the context of meditation practice. Inherently, maintaining a meditation practice involves some level of discipline. The idea of play that I am describing doesn’t mean pure frivolity. It’s intended to counterbalance the habits of many of us lawyers to rely on discipline, rules, and force to achieve our goals.

When I talk about play in this article, what I mean is letting go of expectations. Play also includes forgiving yourself quickly for any mistakes or difficulty focusing. Having a sense of humor and adventure. And being open to joy when it arises.

How can you foster a sense of play in your meditation practice?

Learning to identify and cultivate a sense of play will likely take some time and experience. If you want to start exploring, here are a few strategies you can use to keep your practice fresh and light:

Make your meditation practice more enjoyable.
Identify your early signs of tension and striving.
Reflect on the value of joyful work.
Find a good community and supportive teachers.
Cultivate self-compassion and loving-kindness.

To explore the idea directly in your mindfulness practice, check out these guided meditations crafted to inspire play:

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New Confidence CLE for Lawyers Coming to Lawline

It’s kind of a trip that I now teach other lawyers and professionals about confidence. As I have shared several times here, I have struggled with anxiety, overthinking, and self-doubt for most of my life. I was shocked to find that meditation helped me gradually change these habits.

Over time, I changed how I thought about myself, related to the world, and accepted that risk was a part of a good life. Now, after building a law practice, launching a blog, writing some boks, and crafting a new and unexpected identify for myself as a meditation teacher, I feel pretty confident.

How mindfulness can help lawyers build confidence

How did this happen? What steps helped? What does mindfulness and compassion have to do with confidence? I will share all that and more in a CLE that I created by accident but quickly became my favorite to deliver. That CLE is Real Confidence: Essential Mindfulness Skills for Law Practice and Life. I’ll be presenting it live for Lawline, one of the largest online CLE providers, on July 10th at 10 AM EST.

How did I create this by accident? A few years ago, I was asked if I ever speak about “imposter syndrome.” I admitted that I had nothing prepared and delivered a session on compassion instead. In the minutes leading up to that event, I spoke with the organizers and imagined out loud how I “might” go about talking about confidence if I got the chance.

Image describing details of confidence and mindfulness CLE for lawyers coming to Lawline

Why I love this CLE about confidence for lawyers

Shortly thereafter, I was asked to speak to young lawyers and pitched that very same idea. The organizers loved it and so did the young lawyers in the audience. After doing the session, though, it occurred to me that all lawyers could benefit from this session. I soon got the opportunity and delivered it for a group of defense lawyers in Arkansas. To see how that went, check out the testimonial from Jamie Jones on my speaker page.

As I learned, this session is so fun to deliver because it’s practical. Despite our sometimes austere exterior, lots of lawyers struggle with anxiety, self-doubt, and imposter syndrome. The big secret I learned from years of mindfulness practice and training is that you don’t have to deal with all aspects of these conditions at once.

Instead, mindfulness practice helps you focus your attention in a specific way. This allows you to break fear and doubt into pieces and examine each with kind curiosity. Over time, you can learn strategies to manage anxious thoughts, deal with the physical symptoms of fear, and manage the emotions that come up as you do hard things.

How to participate in or watch the CLE

That’s what I will teach in the CLE and, to boot, you should get CLE credit in most states. Join me on July 10th if you want to participate in discussion, ask questions, or share strategies that worked for you. If you can’t make it live, though, you can always catch it on-demand later and contact me with your questions.

To get details or register for the event, check out the page on Lawline here. If you want to experience how mindfulness can support confidence immediately, check out some of these meditations here:

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Mindfulness and the Life-Changing Magic of Opening Up

Focusing on progress with mindfulness practice is not without its risks. It is easy to get sidetracked from the daily work of practice by obsessing about one’s growth and all the benefits practice has bestowed. If taken too far, this could lead to frustration and impatience or, on the other hand, arrogance and malaise.

Even so, it is worthwhile from time to time to consider progress and growth. As a blogger, I have intentionally celebrated milestones whenever possible to maintain my own motivation. I started this blog on my own and, though it has certainly helped me develop community, the daily work of writing can be a lonely business.

A Confluence of Milestone Moments

For this reason, I was fortunate over the last few days to have a confluence of milestone moments. Much like the recent eclipse, the conjunction of all of these things lining up together made me stop and take notice. So what were these milestone moments?

The first one is that this is the 200th post on the blog. As my fav Peloton instructor might remark on a milestone ride, nobody does anything 200 times by accident. This is a meaningful recognition for me since most of my experience with this blog felt like an experiment.

I enjoy building things. I’m meticulous by nature and I am comfortable going step by step. When I launched this blog in December, 2020, though, I didn’t have a clear idea about what I was building. At the time, the blog was an act of celebration and an acknowledgement of how much I enjoy writing.

An image with a quote about milestones and making habits, including mindfulness, a part of your life

Celebrating 200 Blog Posts

All this time, I have managed the blog while raising two girls, managing a law practice, and teaching mindfulness and compassion. Given this context, managing to generate content consistently often felt like a game of keeping a helium balloon in the air. I had to keep tapping away or the balloon would fall.

In fact, for a period I let the ball drop so that I could focus on writing my first book. Getting to 200 posts feels good because I was able to get back in the game. I’ve often been worried that life would happen and my writing would stop. Now I see that my writing is part of my life.

A Blast from the Past

The next item that spurred reflection was not truly a milestone, but instead a blast from my past. In 2020, just a few months before I launched the blog, a woman named Janice Windt profiled me for her blog about working moms. In the post, I shared about my history with postpartum depression and how cultivating self-compassion helped me heal and thrive.

Janice reached out last week to check in because she was reactivating the series. I checked the old post and saw the date–August, 2020. I immediately recognized this as the time just before I became certified as a meditation teacher and launched the blog.

It was pretty fun to catch up with Janice and send her an update on all that has happened in the last four years. Sometimes we don’t know how small steps might affect our lives when we take them. It was nice to have a chance to think about how much can come from putting a little energy and time into a new idea.

An image with a quote about how big change can from putting time and energy small practices like mindfulness

Sharing My Story with Friends

The last milestone moment is my favorite because it was celebrated with friends. I got to deliver a dharma talk for my local meditation community this past weekend. For those who aren’t familiar, this is lecture about Buddhism in community, similar to a homily at mass.

Since I don’t profess to be a teacher of the dharma, this is not something I have ever done before. I usually teach about mindfulness or meditation practice and my talks are usually much more practical. With this talk, I got to share my story about the winding road that led me to become a meditation teacher.

I was nervous to give the talk since I had been only an occasional visitor to the community and wasn’t sure how someone with a variety of influences might be received. As I spoke, though, my fears vanished. The group was engaged and we had such good discussion afterward.

The Call to Help Others

And what do you suppose was the theme of my talk? It was called “Stumbling onto the Bodhisattva Path.” It was inspired by The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva, a classical poem that is well worth a read and in-depth study.

A bodhisattva is someone who trains in mindfulness and compassion in order to alleviate the suffering of others. Many of us who are brought up in the Christian faith may hear this and think it is essentially a saint. The point of my talk is that helping others is more ordinary and available to us all than we may think. It can even come as a surprise on the journey of life.

An image with a quote about opening up to oneself through mindfulness and others can be life-changing

What does this have to do with opening up?

As I was driving home from the talk, I was feeling an emotion that was hard to identify. I left the radio off so I could sit with it without distraction as I drove. There was a sense of connection, satisfaction, and well-being. And the title for this post, a playful rif on Marie Kondo‘s famous work The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, popped into my mind.

Opening up can indeed by life-changing. To an overthinking, perfectionist introvert like me, it can feel like magic. Mediation helped me slowly learn to open up to myself. Then writing and teaching mindfulness helped me learn to open up to others. Both have had a huge impact on my life.

With this post, I am celebrating progress because hard work and dedication deserves a celebration. I won’t let this reflection distract me for too long from my daily work, though. The daily work of meditation, teaching, and writing is where I have found the connection that is my biggest reward.

An image thanking all the readers and followers of the Brilliant Legal Mind blog which offers teachings and resources on mindfulness to lawyers

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The Right Intention Can Sustain a Meditation Practice

When I was new to meditation, I used to hate it when a guided practice would encourage me to “set an intention” for practice. I didn’t know what that meant. I was not used to thinking about my intentions or living my life as if I got to pick one. In general, I was sitting because I was tired or thinking too much or because I was trying to keep my meditation habit alive.

For a long time, this intention was enough to sustain my practice. Early on, the physical benefits of learning to manage my stress were so obvious that feeling better was my sole intention. In those days, I would sit and find some new energy or cure a headache. With benefits like those, the intention was apparent: I just wanted to feel better.

Rethinking Intention

This week, though, I have been thinking about the power of intention in a deeper way. I am preparing to give a dharma talk to my local meditation community about how I went from novice meditator to teacher. My path was far from perfect and includes a span of nearly a year in which my practice faded away entirely.

In the course of preparing the talk, I realized that a shift in intention made all the difference for me. Meditation has always been a self-care strategy for me. It helps me slow down, get in touch with myself, and care for myself physically, mentally, and emotionally. It helps me face challenges and remember self-compassion.

From Self-Care to Guiding Principle

At some point along the way, though, meditation became more than self-care for me. Eventually, after years of sitting, I started to realize that my meditation practice didn’t just help me care for myself better. Instead, meditation helped me take care of everybody I came in contact with better.

This is in part what led me to start teaching. I knew from personal experience that stress, anxiety, and overwhelm as a lawyer led to bad conduct and worse results. I began teaching other lawyers and professionals about mindfulness practices because they had made such a difference for me.

Image for blog post with options for common intentions for meditation practice

Intention Inspires Action

Over and above this, though, was the truth that I behaved better, acted more kindly, and was more available to help others when I kept my meditation practice robust. In fact, I have found that my practice is stronger when I am busy because I know that is when I need it most. Indeed, I even have increasingly made time to go on retreat because I know it makes me a calmer lawyer, more present parent, and a happier person all around.

Realizing these benefits helps me stick with my practice even when motivation is hard to muster. Even as a meditation teacher, my practice is far from perfect. I struggle with laziness, resistance, and excuses like anyone. Sometimes I am tired, I don’t feel good, or I just don’t feel like meditating.

These are the times when my intention helps me the most. I remember that I’m not just meditating for me. I’m meditating for everyone I love, for everyone I work with, everyone who depends on me, and everyone I meet. In short, I remember that I can give my best to others when I take care of myself first.

What Intentions for Meditation Are There?

There are different schools of thought about the intention which should guide meditation practice. If your intention is purely self-care, there is no shame in that. That was my sole motivation for years and it made a huge difference in my life.

If your intention is self-improvement, that can be wonderful too. In reality, I have experienced how a balanced effort to improve oneself can lead to more ethical living and benefit others.

Image asking the question what is your motivation for meditation practice

What Motivates Your Meditation Practice?

The point of this post is not for me or any other teacher to tell you what your intention should be. Rather, the point is to encourage you to discover the intention for your own mindfulness practice. You may not know what your intention is right away and that’s okay.

If you keep asking, though, you may eventually realize what is motivating you to keep meditating. Once you understand this you will discover a powerful motivational tool to help keep your practice robust. If you are lucky, you may also unearth a guiding principle that can positively influence the direction of your life.

If you have struggled with motivation for your meditation practice, we have some resources that might help. Check out our Meditation Habit Worksheet to see if any subtle tweaks can make a difference. You can also check out our Pause and Begin Again e-book, which offers strategies for starting and restarting a meditation practice. Lastly, consider ways to make your practice more enjoyable here.

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Why I Love Meditation Retreats

“Why am I even doing this?” This question is one I have asked myself during meditation repeatedly over the last several years. I asked it yesterday, on a beautiful Saturday morning, on the first walking meditation session of a half-day retreat.

I could have been doing any number of other things. The lovely weather offered a perfect opportunity to clean up my yard. I also have been meaning to take my kids to the museum to see a new exhibit. Like most lawyers, I had a selection of work and meditation teaching-related tasks waiting for me.

But I had chosen to spend the better part of a day sitting and walking in silence. Given all the other choices before me and the fact that time was so precious, the question “why” naturally arose. The fact of the question didn’t surprise me. The tone underlying it did.

Why Isn’t Always a Question

As I have shared before, why questions often implicitly posit more than they seek. When we ask why, of ourselves or others, it can easily connote a judgment instead of asking a question. On one of my first meditation retreats, this same question — why am I here — was really a symptom of my own doubt.

This time, after years of practice, hundreds of hours of training, and many more meditation retreats, the question finally appeared as a real question. When it arose, I felt the curiosity behind it. It allowed me to consider the facts with an open mind, instead of retreating into self-defense.

So, as I walked, I considered why I had decided to come to this particular half-day retreat. I’d made the decision to attend in the preceding days when I had the sense that I “needed” some extended time for meditation. The weeks prior had been busy, to be sure, with many activities that an introvert like me finds draining.

An image that discusses why busy lawyers ought to ask what they get and don't get from a meditation retreat.

Retreats Are a Chance to Put Your Identity Down

This provided some of the answer, but I knew there was more to it. My busy couple of weeks was also embedded in a transitional series of months. I had started a job with a new firm in January. It was a good change but a big one. As someone with a history of anxiety, change of this nature causes a lot of worry.

While I walked, I noticed something amazing: I was not worrying at all. I also realized that I had not worried during the first full sit or the drive to the retreat site. This was remarkable because downtime–moments not filled to the brim with activity–is when my worry tended to arise. Here I was, though, with planned hours of downtime and I was doing just fine.

When I noticed this fact, I smiled because my “why” was immediately apparent. I had gone to the retreat to rest in the deepest sense of the word. Now that I have practiced meditation for a while, I am comfortable sitting and letting my thoughts go. I can get distance from them and let them float and bounce around. I trust that with time they eventually will stop and my mind will settle.

Meditation Can Offer a Rest from All the Worry

What this means, then, is that retreat offers me an extended period to set my worries down. For a few hours (or days when I can afford it), I can set my identity aside. This allows me to just notice what is happening in my mind and body and present moment experience. In doing so, worry stops because it is entirely useless and irrelevant.

Of course, this does not mean that worry stops for all time. Anxiety for me, like many other lawyers, has been a lifelong friend. I have no doubts it will return. But when it does, I know from experience that the terror it used to invoke will be missing. Prior to meditation, anxiety was more than a dreadful feeling and a head filled with dire thoughts. It was something I never thought I could escape.

When I started meditation, though, I learned that I didn’t have to escape. Instead, slowly and surely I began to face my anxiety. I broke it into pieces and noticed the thoughts, body sensations, and emotions one by one. Then I learned to interpret what, if anything the anxiety was telling me. Usually, it was just saying “I’m scared” or “there’s something I can’t control and that makes me feel unsafe.”

An image that explains that rest is one of the benefits lawyers can get from a meditatin retreat.

Ending Worry Means Facing Fear with Kindness

At this rock bottom stage, I unexpectedly found power. When I accepted my feelings of fear and vulnerability, I then could practice self-compassion and care for my feelings. This is what allowed me to just sit with anxiety because I had learned to trust myself to hold it with kindness.

So, why spend a beautiful Saturday cooped up at a silent meditation retreat? To put it simply, it’s a chance to take a break from normal life and go back to the very basics. Retreat is remarkable because it is a chance to practice just being with life exactly as it is. For me, this has usually meant a return to my normal life with less worry and more kindness.

At the end of the retreat, when all of my why questions had been answered, we ended with a guided loving-kindness practice. This practice had been a favorite of mine for a long time. This time, the leader started us off by cuing us to think of an image or person who inspired compassion in us. The most shocking thing happened when the image that came to my mind was myself.

An image that explains that meditation retreats allow participants to practice being with life as it is.

Practicing Kindness Can Help Us Face Life

Like most lawyers, self-compassion was something I’d always had to work to cultivate. My own image didn’t come to mind, though, because I am naturally mild and magnanimous. I knew it was, instead, a recognition of my stubbornness. All the worry over the last few weeks had proven something meaningful: that I wouldn’t give up on myself.

I had been a bit exasperated with all my worries, but I had never turned on myself. Instead, I relentlessly (even if not effortlessly) tended to my fears with self-care and sought support from others. With far less angst than in years past, I did what any kind person would do for another person in need of support. In doing so, I had become my own source and image of compassion.

This recognition was a beautiful way to end the retreat and a sign that I was ready to pick my identity back up. Because I had a chance to set it aside for a while, it didn’t feel so heavy. Resting from my worries helped remind me I could face them again when needed. Reconnecting with compassion reminded me I had the tools, in myself and others, to face life as it is.

Conclusion

So why should lawyers or other professionals take time out of their busy lives to sit and do nothing at a retreat? Because doing nothing provides a unique opportunity to see how life really is or at least how it can be when we aren’t lost in thoughts and worries. It’s a chance to set identity aside, rest from anxiety, doubts, and fears, and reconnect with simple kindness.

Meditation retreats are not easy and not exactly fun. They can be a challenge for lawyers to schedule and attend. Despite this, I love attending meditation retreats because I usually gain insights and always feel lighter at the end.

An image that discusses how meditation retreats can allow more space for mindfulness and compassion

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Interview with Lawyer and Attempted Suicide Survivor Bruce Simpson

Editor’s Note: I had not met Bruce Simpson until last week. However, I have known about him for several months. Bruce shared his story for my state bar association, the ABA, and various news sources. I organized a CLE discussion about attorney mental health for the Kentucky Bar Convention and reached out to Bruce to participate. He graciously agreed and did a wonderful job. I am pleased he also agreed to an interview here so I can share some of his words with those who could not attend the session.

1. Tell me about yourself.

I did not realize or appreciate that I had any “mental health” struggles or a mental health problem until after I attempted suicide. I thought I was simply too weak to fix what I thought were merely my own self-created, “emotional problems.” I was raised like many kids in the 50s and 60s and even now where your “worth” as a human being was based on how well you performed in athletics or something else that your parents’ thought was “worthy”.

Early Life and Education

In my case, it was athletics. When I performed well, I was not criticized but when I performed poorly, I was constantly berated. This took place daily between the ages 11 and 18. As a result, I had extremely poor self-esteem, acted out in school, and got sent to the principal’s office more than any kid I knew. I did not study for any test between 9^th and 12^th grade except for one final. I thought I was worthless and weak.

I learned from my father not to complain because that meant I was weak, that I should “suck it up” and be “like a man.” So, for 60 years, I did not think I had a mental illness problem. It was ingrained in me that I had a Bruce Simpson personal problem, that I was simply too ineffectual. I did not realize there was anything to fix. I knew I was worthless.

I did not legally graduate from high school. I was socially promoted. I did not pass the required classes. My GPA was 1.4 for 4 years. I tried to go to the UK but flunked out with a 1.1 GPA after 3 semesters. I got drafted into the Army. This gave me a wake-up call. I was away from home for 2 years and on my own. I did well in the Army serving above rank. I also got serious and upon my discharge was ready to get serious about school.

College to Law Practice

I went year-round for 4 years and obtained my BA in sociology and MSW degrees. I made a 3.3 or higher every semester for my BA degree and a 3.9 in graduate school. I studied all the time. I performed well objectively but I still thought I was an imposter. I was terribly insecure. I thought I would never get a girlfriend because I was not attractive enough. So, I married the first girl who was attracted to me. I thought I would never find another girlfriend. This insecurity, the lack of self-worth was an integral part of my life for 60 years.

I did not start to think other people thought I was worthy until my early forties when I started to have some success as a lawyer. People would tell me they saw one of my trials or hearings and compliment me. I was stunned. Really? I asked. This felt great. This continued for the next 30 or so years. I became well known in central Kentucky for land development controversies, hearings, and trials. Internally, though, I knew I was an imposter.

Early Views about Mental Health

During this time whenever I would read about a lawyer getting into trouble for one reason or another, I thought to myself, if that were me, I would kill myself. I could not lose this self-worth I had obtained if only because people would tell me I was a good lawyer. I recall one vacation my wife and I took to Europe. I was a solo practitioner at the time, and a thought popped into my head about halfway across the ocean that I might have missed a statute of limitations filing in a case. This thought would pop into my head 10-15 times per day.

The only way I found I could cope and not ruin the trip for my wife was to conclude, “Look if you missed the statute, you will just kill yourself when you get home.” The truth is I was on autopilot to kill myself for 30 years if I ever perceived other people would not consider me worthy. Thus, on January 24, 2023, when I saw I had not filed a brief in a highly publicized case I won at trial and that it was going to be a published decision, I knew I had to take my own life. There was no question about it. I was ready to die.

Image with quote from the article regarding mental health for lawyers and the general public

2. Without revealing any confidence, how did you manage your law practice as you address your mental health needs?

I did not manage my mental health needs because I did not know I had any such needs. I thought it was me being weak. I did not believe any therapist could talk me into being strong and I thought medication would just make me high.

3. What supports, people, groups, or resources helped you the most in managing your mental health?

I had to be involuntarily institutionalized at Eastern State Hospital after my suicide attempt. This was the first time I had any mental healthcare. I have been in therapy and on medication since. I am now doing better than ever. I have never felt better. I think more clearly than ever. I am performing better than ever in trials and hearings, and I do not need anyone’s affirmation to tell me I am worthy.

I know I am worthy. While therapy and medication have been crucial to my recovery, my increased faith in God and following Him daily has been super important. No one could have been more purposeful to die on January 25, 2023, than me. I suppose I will never be able to fully explain to everybody’s comprehension how a brand new, loaded .357 Magnum pistol with hollow point bullets did not fire when the hammer of the gun hit the bullet while the gun was pointed at the side of my head when I pulled the trigger.

This is especially unlikely because I had just test fired this brand-new gun only a moment earlier and a removed the spent shell casing from the gun. I had seen the live bullet rotate into the firing chamber just like it did during the test firing. Yet, it did not fire and before I could try again, the police where driving towards me because I had called 911 before I tried to kill myself. I did not want an innocent person to find my body.

An image with an article quote regarding the power of mental health treatment and faith that helped a lawyer recover after a suicide attempt

4. What is the most important thing you wish the legal profession understood about mental health?

The legal profession as well as the public at large must learn to appreciate that mental illness is a serious and legitimate illness just like cancer, heart disease and the like. Mental illness and its treatment should not have the stigma attached to it that it does. This stigma deters mentally ill people from obtaining the treatment they need, and which works.

Too many of us mock mentally ill people. I confess I used to do it. This is wrong and it is damaging to those who suffer mental illness. As far as the legal profession in particular, the culture must change. I practiced 20 years in Big Law and 20 years in small firms. Leaders of law firms need to be much more tuned into the quality of life of their subordinate attorneys.

This “all-in” push to generate maximum money to the exclusion of people’s mental health is sick. Too many leaders give lip service to caring about their attorneys but in fact, the unwritten code is if you want to stay employed and make the “esteemed partner” class, you better demonstrate the firm comes first and so does money.

Lawyers are also encumbered much like doctors by the potential to be “infected” with the perfectionism syndrome. Too many of us believe we must be perfect as lawyers and anything less is unacceptable because clients will get hurt, and the firm will get sued. I do not see any way around this conundrum.

It is something we must live with when we choose this profession. I also think lawyers should be rewarded for service to the community and pro bono work. Yet, few firms do. I believe this service component actually enhances the image of the firm which draws more business.

An image with a quote from the article about mental health for lawyers and perfectionism

5. How did you find the courage to start being open about your mental health story?

My situation is unique, I think. By all logic, I should have died that night. There is no rational reason I should be alive today. I was locked in on killing myself. I wanted to finish my mission in that cemetery, but the police officer did not leave. The rest is detailed in my article, but it was only on January 25, 2024, my one-year anniversary, that I told the rest of the story which happened that night. I posted on my Facebook account and my LinkedIn Account. I do not have courage. I am simply empowered by God to speak out.

6. How has your experience managing your own mental health affected your life and work?

Mental health treatment and my newfound faith have changed my life so radically, there are no words to adequately describe how blessed I feel, how clearly, I think and how good I feel about myself.

Bruce’s Bio: Bruce Simpson has been a civil trial lawyer for 40 years in Lexington, KY where his practice has focused on land use litigation and civil rights violations. Bruce is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in Kentucky, the United States 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.

He has a Bachelor of Arts, Master of Social Work and Juris Doctorate Degrees from the University of Kentucky. Bruce is a past president of the Fayette County Bar Association. He is also a past president and current board member of the Children’s Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass, which exclusively serves sexually abused children. Additionally, he is a member of the board of directors of the Kentucky Equal Justice Center and Mental Health America-Kentucky Chapter.

Bruce is a United States Army infantry veteran who served 2 years of active duty and 4 years of reserve duty.

This post is the first of an ongoing series. If you are in the legal profession and are interested in sharing your story, please submit a query here. If you are not sure about sharing your story, there is no shame in taking your time. For a bit of inspiration about the benefits it might offer, however, check out my post here.

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