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Why I Don’t Use AI to Write about Mindfulness

This is probably long overdue. I realized that I have said virtually nothing about AI. This wasn’t me trying to bury my head in the sand. I’m aware it’s out there. In truth, it seems to be everywhere.

I haven’t talked much about generative AI on the blog so far because I wasn’t sure what to say about it. To be honest, I haven’t used it a lot until recently. When I do use it, it’s generally been at work.

The point of this post is to make one thing clear. I’m not entirely against generative AI, but I don’t use it to write my blog posts. Here are a few reasons why.

I Love Writing, So I Don’t Need AI

I’m not going to get on a moral high horse about generative AI in this post. That’s because the biggest reason why I haven’t use it to write blog posts is a practical one. I love writing.

I truly enjoy the craft of writing in my books, my presentations and talks, and in my posts. While I admit that it is sometimes tough to write week after week, the practice of regular writing has been very good for me.

It’s good to have somewhere to put my thoughts. It helps to write and process my emotions. It is supportive to be able to work through tricky issues and know that a post may be useful to someone else.

For all these reasons, I don’t use AI because it’s just not something I need.

Mindfulness Is About Connecting More Deeply with Other People

Another reason that I prefer to write my own posts is that connection with other people is essential for mindfulness practice. Sure, I practiced meditation on my own for years before I ever meditated with other people. As I have shared before, lawyers can definitely explore and learn about mindfulness on our own.

Over the years, though, I eventually found community with my meditation practice and I learned and grew so much faster. For this reason, one of the most important insights from meditation is that the connection to other people is really important.

Now, is it possible to connect with other people with AI-supported writing? Potentially, and I expect that to grow as the years go on. But right now? I see the writing output from AI as more of a barrier. It can convey some ideas well, but it isn’t personal.

Because I believe that community is important when it comes to learning mindfulness, I prefer to have a personal touch when I write about it. For me, that means I write my own pieces without AI.

Image of founder, lawyers, and post author Claire E. Parsons with quote that says "Trust in a teacher and real connection with other people are essential to learn mindfulness. I don’t use AI to write about mindfulness because it raises too many questions. I want create a human connection and build trust and need my voice to do that."

Trust Is Important When It Comes to Mindfulness and Mental Health

Finally, the last reason I don’t use AI to write my posts on this blog is that trust matters. The focus of my blog is mindfulness and mental health for lawyers. These are important topics and there is still a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding about them.

In this day and age, it can be hard to know who to trust when learning about these topics. Mindfulness is complicated and personal. There a lot of differing opinions and strong feelings on topics relating to mental health.

If you are going to read a blog on these topics, you deserve to know who is behind it’s ideas. That’s why I am generally upfront about my own experience with mindfulness. It’s why I have been so specific in explaining my training as a mindfulness teacher.

I don’t necessarily believe that using AI inherently destroys the potential for trust. But it can raise questions about what the AI platform used, the manner of use, and the level of editing and revision that took place after.

For me, it’s just better to keep it simple. My posts come from me, my years of experience, and my training as a mindfulness teacher.

I Plan to Keep Writing Posts without AI

I don’t make big promises or vows here. Who knows where technology is heading and what AI tools may creep into the writing process as time goes on? I can say that the first 300 posts on this blog were written without AI and I don’t plan on changing that any time soon.

I enjoy writing and I love building community around mindfulness through this blog. My plan is to keep on writing posts without help from generative AI. Thank you for the trust you have shown me over the years by reading and engaging.

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

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New Book Update: The Manuscript Is Done

I completed the next major step on the way to publishing my second book. Today, I sent in the manuscript to prepare the files for publication. This is great news for several reasons.

This will be a short post because I’ve been busy editing. Even so, I wanted to share the reasons why this is such a big step.

I Made the Book Publication Deadline

The book is about mindfulness, of course. Based on this, you might think that a book like that could be published at any time. Not in this case.

As I shared before, this one is my first attempt at fiction. It’s a mindfulness fable inspired by Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol. Although my story focuses more on the New Year than Christmas, it’s still a holiday tale.

Based on this, I plan to publish before Thanksgiving this year. Doing the math backward, that means I got the manuscript finished right on time.

Done with Editing!

Having never written fiction before, I wrote this book in part to learn and grow as a writer and mindfulness teacher. Writing the book taught me so much about writing.

Editing the book taught me ever more. I went through 5 drafts of the book. That means I read and edited myself several times.

I also included detailed edits from an editor, coach, and several beta readers. Each level of review taught me something new. But let’s be real. Editing a book can be tedious and it can inspire a lot of self-doubt.

The good news is that I persisted and got to see how much better the book got because of my efforts and all the great feedback I received. Still, I am so glad to be done and am celebrating getting to move on to the next step.

The School Year Is Here

If you didn’t notice, I set the manuscript deadline with some intention. The majority of my law practice is devoted to school law. This means, the academic year is my “busy season.” As the mom of two girls, that means that the new school year rush hits me two ways at once.

Because the summer is usually not so hectic, I had planned to edit the book then and be done before school started. To be perfectly honest, I had hoped to be done even sooner but summer was a bit less chill than I had hoped. Regardless, I made my drop dead date, so the project is still right on time.

And now I can devote my full attention to getting my kids back in school and keeping my educator clients on track.

I’m Proud of the Book

And the best part of sending in the manuscript? The best part is that I’m proud of the book I wrote. As my first attempt at fiction, I don’t have illusions that the book is perfect.

Even so, it tells a story with heart. It conveys teachings about mindfulness that I couldn’t convey in a webinar, talk, or even a blog post.

It also combines so many things I love, including writing, teaching mindfulness, and good stories. This project was also supported by many people I love and respect. I have already had really great conversations with friends and family members who have read it. It’s so neat to hear what people focus on most when they read a story.

When and How Can You Read the Book?

Image of a book cover with the the title "A New Year's Present" and the announcement that it will be released for the holidays in 2026.

I don’t have a specific date set just yet, but the title is final. The title of the book is A New Year’s Present. I hope you hear the rhythmic similarity to A Christmas Carol there, because that’s intentional.

It will be released in November. Like my other books, you will be able to find it on Amazon, BookShop, and other online retailers.

I will definitely let you know when it is published. I may even bang pots and pans and set off fireworks just like on New Year’s Eve!

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Letter from the Future: Lessons from 300 Blog Posts

Editor’s Note: I’m proud to celebrate 300 posts this week, but I’m also finalizing the edits on my new book. I was at a loss about how to recognize the occasion, so I researched some of my old posts. When I reached the 10-year anniversary of my mindfulness practice, I wrote this post with a letter from my future self. It made me proud to read it and I decided to write another. This letter is written to myself back in December 2020 when I launched the blog. Please enjoy and if you are thinking of starting writing and need a pep talk please reach out to me!

Dear Claire,

This is you from the future again. I know I wrote you a few years ago. I found that letter again recently and liked it so much that I decided to write a new one. Sorry if this is annoying. I promise I won’t start texting you or messaging you on LinkedIn.

Instead, I’ll keep my messages restricted to milestone moments. You have another one this week. You hit 300 posts on this blog! Can you believe it?

How Did 300 Blog Posts Happen?

I bet you can’t. I know when you started this blog in 2020 you weren’t sure what would happen. You didn’t know much about blogging. You just liked writing and and mindfulness and needed a a place to put your words.

Remember how you used to worry that you were making a big mistake by starting a blog? You were always so worried that you would run out of time or ideas.

Way back when, even before the blog, do you remember how you worried about whether you could write one blog post a month? For the last six years, you have been writing almost 1 post every week. And you have written and edited books along the way too?

You Managed the Blog Week by Week

It’s pretty amazing what can happen when we let it. Isn’t it?

I hope that I’m not making your head spin by talking about 300 blog posts. I know you are new to this whole blogging thing and taking it week by week. Claire, I want you to know that is exactly how you should take it.

Your schedule, like the schedules of other lawyers, is irregular. It can change on a dime. It will change wildly as you go through two job changes, raise kids, and become a popular speaker.

The blog may seem hard to manage now at the beginning, but just wait until you have even more things to manage. But don’t be scared. I’m not trying to warn you here. Instead, I’m saying that you will grow.

Writing Became a Calling

Writing isn’t a chore for you. It’s not a job. It’s something that is a part of you. Or at least eventually it will become that way. In fact, I’m going to go ahead and use an arguably cheesy term here. Writing for you is a calling.

For many years, Claire, you refused that call. You doubted yourself, and told yourself you were too busy. You believed the lie that, as a lawyer, you were only allowed to bill hours. Or you fell prey to the related lie that any free time should be devoted exclusively to your children.

But somehow, you pushed through all that crap. Somehow you saw the truth that those lies swirling in your head were just doubt. They were the same doubts you’d had your whole life.

Blogging Became an Essential Practice

I won’t lie to you. This blog does not make those doubts go away. I actually just wrote a post about doubt last week. It’s still alive and well. But you know what? You have learned that writing a blog post is a great way to work through big emotions.

In addition, Claire, you should know that the doubt arose because you are editing your first novel. Yes, you wrote a novel or at least a fable about mindfulness. This means that doubt keeps arising because you continue to take risks and try new things.

How were you able to try writing fiction, which was very new to you? You were able to do that because you haven’t just been training the skill of writing all these years. Instead, you have been training discipline, self-confidence, and listening to your inner voice.

Quote that says "Thank you for reading" to celebrate writing 300 blog posts about mindfulness for lawyers

Just Keep Writing, Even When It’s Hard

I know that this blog is still new to you, Claire. I know you aren’t sure where it’s headed. I’m writing to tell you it’s headed in a good direction. You just have to keep writing.

Will it be easy? Absolutely not. You will write many – if not most – of the posts last minute. You will lack motivation and inspiration some weeks and sometimes feel like you are just going through the motions. Some weeks, you will skip writing a post because you just can’t deal with it. Sometimes it will feel pretty lonely.

But of course, you know that’s okay. You have already learned how to get off track and came back, over and over again, with your meditation practice. So don’t stress when that happens. Don’t worry that the magic you found in writing will somehow leave you.

Instead, you’ll take breaks. You’ll live life for a while. And the ideas will come back when you are ready. And you will have so much fun.

Blog Posts Can Lead to Good Things

You’ll also meet people through your writing. People will find you on the internet and reach out to chat. You will make friends by showing up as yourself in your posts. You will also discover the writing will make networking and marketing your law practice so much easier.

Claire, let’s be honest, I can’t tell you that the blog will make you famous. I can’t say it will make you rich. I don’t promise that it will always be fun and you’ll never wonder if it’s too much work.

But I can say one thing with absolute confidence. People don’t do something 300 times because they get nothing out of it. They do a thing 300 times for a reason. You kept writing post after post because it was good for you. You kept writing because it brought you joy.

I know you probably feel unsure now at the beginning. It’s okay to feel unsure. It’s no big deal if you don’t have a clear plan. Just keep writing.

Thank you for trusting yourself and the rest of the world for starting this blog. Thanks for taking the time to build something new. It’s been a fun ride over these years. I can’t wait to see how many more we get!

With gratitude, Your Future Self

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Tiny Steps: Celebrating Milestones in Writing My First Novel

Image of typewriter with discarded drafts, eyeglasses, pencils, and a cup of coffee and title of blog post "Tiny Steps: Celebrating Milestones in Writing My First Novel"

Sometimes I have to remind myself that big projects come down to completing a million tiny steps. As I have shared before, I am working on a new book. It’s my first novel. My update is that I have finally settled on a title.

I will share that at the end to keep you in suspense. But for now, I am taking a moment to celebrate the milestone. The writing of this book has been much slower, and in some ways harder, than my first book. I keep finding that I need ways to motivate myself.

A Novel Is Written in a Series of Small Steps

So, today I am sharing a post about the importance of small steps. This is something that you would expect a mindfulness teacher to say. A meditation practice starts with a single breath. If you get off track, I teach that you just need to bring yourself back.

This same approach has been serving me well with this book. It took me over two years to write it and I had to keep letting the story come out, paragraph by paragraph.

I finally decided to publish the book earlier this year at a time when my law practice did not feel so busy. By the time that plan was up and running, so were all my cases. This means that I have had to literally find some stolen moments to do a Zoom call with my coach, read the feedback from beta readers, or fill out the form for my book cover.

Life Gets in the Way but I Keep on Writing

The good news is that this is very much like meditation. I keep getting distracted by other things in life and having to drag my attention back, even if only for a few moments.

Of course, this is hard and frustrating. Even though I love writing and enjoy learning about writing fiction, I’d be lying if I pretended there wasn’t a little voice of doubt that asked “what if you just quit? Would anyone care?”

More good news. Meditation has made me old friends with my doubt complex. This means that I am usually pretty good at seeing these inner questions as doubt, which is helpful in itself. Seeing doubt for what it is helps me avoid the trap of believing it.

Doubt Is an Invitation to Remember What Matters

Instead, I use it as an opportunity to recommit by answering the questions that doubt asks me. What if I just quit? Well, of course, the world would not end. Most other people would not notice or would be too polite to say anything. But I would know. I would care. I would be sad that I didn’t finish the project.

This is a long way of reminding myself that someone cares. It’s a long way of remembering that I care. I didn’t decide to write the book for approval. I decided to write it because I wanted to see where it would lead. After all this time and lots of frustration, I am still curious to see where it will lead.

And so I keep looking for an extra few minutes here and there. I have committed myself again to finalizing the editing this summer so I can publish by the end of the year. It is sometimes hard to make myself take each of the tiny steps.

Milestones Build Momentum for Writing Success

Even so, the milestones are racking up. I am starting to see a clearer vision of how this book will come together. Now I have a title, a foreword, the beginnings of a cover, and some good feedback to guide my editing. Even more significantly, I also have some friends, a coach, and an editor to cheer me on and answer my questions when I am stuck.

By the end of this year, you will be able to read my second book called A New Year’s Present. It is a mindfulness fable for lawyers inspired by A Christmas Carol. I can’t wait to to see how it turns out and I hope you can’t wait to read it.

Picture of book with title of my first novel "A New Year's Present" by Claire E. Parsons

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Lawyers in Fact and Fiction

I am a trial lawyer who writes but also a writer who tries cases. Which profession takes top billing turns on the day and hour. While law is my day job and literature my nighttime pursuit, the longer I toil at both jobs, the more I appreciate how they complement each other, rather than conflict.

My decades as a federal prosecutor and white-collar defense lawyer have made me a better writer. Likewise, the thousands of hours spent writing and rewriting have turned me into a better lawyer.

How Law Practice and Fiction Writing Came Together

The first hint of the synergy came in law school, when a professor noted that 99 percent of being a lawyer was picking the right word at the right time. That describes 100 percent of what makes a good writer.

Nowhere does my legal work lean more heavily on my writing style than in crafting a closing argument to a jury. The key is to remain clear, concise, and compelling.

Before every closing argument, I reread Elmore Leonard’s rules of writing, especially his golden rule: “When you write, try to leave out all the parts that readers skip.” In preparing a jury argument, I delete the parts that will cause a juror’s eyes to glaze over.

Jury argument mirrors the writing process. There is a sad but true saying that there are always three jury closings. There’s the argument a lawyer prepares; the one he delivers; and the one he wishes he had given.

About the New Novel

Chasing the Chameleon, which was published last week, is my third book in the Cash McCahill series and my fifth book to be published. By now, I have learned the hard lesson that each work is always three books: the novel I envisioned, the one I wrote, and the one I wished I had written.

Lawyers who write on the side are perhaps the fastest growing minority in the country. At any writers’ conference or book festival, a person can’t throw a hardback without hitting a writer-attorney. Every attorney I know is either writing a book or aspiring to do so, and there is no shame in that.

Inspiration for Lawyers Who Write

In my Mount Rushmore of attorney-authors are four titans who have scaled the heights of both professions: Sir John Mortimer, Scott Turow, John Grisham, and Erle Stanley Gardner.

Like barrister-author Sir John Mortimer and his enduring fictional creation Horace Rumpole, I was privileged to read law at Oxford. Mortimer enjoyed a distinguished career at the bar, occasionally defending authors and artists facing criminal charges of obscenity. He wrote more than fifty books and scripts but is remembered best for Rumpole, the rumpled, resilient barrister who practiced his trade at the Old Bailey in London.

The older I get, the fonder I grow of Rumpole the curmudgeon. His inner voice during witty but doomed arguments with his wife Hilda (“She Who Must Be Obeyed”) and pompous judges are priceless. There is nobility in his dogged efforts to defend the downtrodden.

Some Lawyers Truly Write What They Know

I later attended Harvard Law School during the tenure of Scott Turow, whose nonfiction book One L was published during my law school years. Turow went on to write thirteen fiction works, the most famous being his first novel: Presumed Innocent. No one is better at portraying the vicissitudes of a criminal trial and the tinderbox of emotions unleashed in the courthouse.

While I share no school ties with John Grisham, he graciously visited our home in Dallas to support a fundraiser for a charity for which his wife and mine serve on the board: Share Our Strength/No Kid Hungry. His success as a novelist is unmatched. Thirty-seven consecutive number one fiction bestsellers. More than 300 million books worldwide.

During the visit, I asked Grisham whether in the wake of his great success he ever missed the courtroom. He stared at me as if I were a madman and said no.

Much like Rumpole, however, I would miss the courtroom. Perhaps that is easy for me to say because I haven’t racked up the sales of Grisham or Turow. But trial work by day and writing fiction at night gives my life balance. One pursuit is largely public and performative. The other, mostly private and contemplative.

How Writing Works with Law Practice

The allure of the courtroom helps me understand why so many actors on both sides of the pond return to the stage, though a theatre gig pays far less than they could command for film. In a criminal trial, the lawyers play to a live audience, and the feedback from closing arguments may come in hours or days.

That leads to the fourth giant on my personal Mount Rushmore of attorney-authors: Erle Stanley Gardner. If Grisham is prolific, Gardner was super prolific. More than 300 million books sold under more than a dozen pen names. Among his 131 works of fiction are the mother lode: 82 full-length Perry Mason novels.

Gardner was a lawyer’s lawyer, often representing the poor and powerless, including Chinese and Mexican immigrants. He founded the Court of Last Resort to advocate for the wrongly convicted.

Yet, he still found time to create the most popular lawyer in fiction: Perry Mason. Mason is to fictional lawyers what Sherlock Holmes is to detectives. Both are brilliant knights who fight like hell for their clients and to discover the truth. In Gardner’s world of fiction, the truth is what frees Mason’s clients.

In real life, not so much.

This Lawyer Will Keep on Writing

As a kid, I spent countless hours watching black-and-white reruns of Perry Mason and reading the source material: the Mason novels. The experience inspired me to plant one foot in the law and the other in literature.

Gardner’s long run with Mason also inspired me to launch my Cash McCahill series, the third entry of which (Chasing the Chameleon) which was published last week. With 82 Mason novels, that means only 79 more Cash books to match Gardner’s otherworldly output.

Author Bio: Paul Coggins is a nationally prominent criminal defense lawyer and the former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. He has published two Cash McCahill novels (Sting Like a Butterfly and Eye of the Tigress), with a third entry in the series (Chasing the Chameleon) to be published in March 2026. A fourth Cash book (Canary in the Courthouse) is in the works. You can follow Paul on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

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Five Ways Mindfulness Helped Me Write My First Novel

Image of typewriter generating letters on desk with notebook, pen, and glasses and title of blog post "Five Ways Mindfulness Helped Me Write My First Novel"

A funny thing happened over the last few years: I wrote a novel. This was never something I had intended to do. As a blogger, of course, I love writing. But as a lawyer, my focus is usually on the facts. I generally didn’t spend my time dreaming up stories.

But then one day, I noticed that I had dreamt up a story. I have a special place in my heart for A Christmas Carol. And I have attended a meditation retreat around the New Year several times. At some point, the two things merged a story about a lawyer who goes on retreat came to mind.

I didn’t quite know what to do with this idea at first or if I would do anything with it at all. Eventually, though, I sat down and let myself write. Then I decided that I liked what I had written well enough to keep working on it. Now, my plan is to publish this little novel by the holidays.

How did I go from nebulous idea to official project? As you may have guessed, mindfulness sure helped. Here are the five ways that mindfulness helped me write my first novel.

1. Mindfulness Helped Me Recognize the Idea.

It’s really hard to recognize a good idea or even be aware that you are having an idea in a crowded mind. Many lawyers try mindfulness with the notion that they will get a clear mind – one with few or at least fewer thoughts. After more than a decade of meditation practice, that hasn’t exactly been my experience.

My thoughts haven’t stopped coming. Far from it, they have continued on much like they did before. It’s just that, with a lot of meditation practice, my mind is much better at knowing which thoughts deserve my time and attention.

I don’t feed all the thoughts and give them energy now. This means that I have a lot more mental space. I can see individual thoughts more clearly. This leaves room for wisdom about which ones are significant.

When it comes to ideas, this really matters. New ideas don’t often yell at us and demand our attention. Instead, they often whisper. When the novel started coming to me, it was very subtle. I would get a flash of a scene that might last only a few minutes. After a few weeks, I realized that this was a pattern and I started to take note.

Without clear, nonjudgmental awareness, I would have easily missed these tiny moments of inspiration. Because my mindfulness practice had honed this trait, though, I was able to see it and let the idea emerge.

2. Mindfulness Practice Gave Me the Patience to Let the Novel Emerge.

As you may have noticed by now, this book has taken a long time to unfold. It began coming to me late in 2022 but I didn’t recognize it until the next year. I started writing it early in 2023, but then didn’t finish until the very end of 2024. In 2025, I thought about publishing but then got sidetracked by my hectic law practice and copious speaking engagements. Only now in 2026 did I decide once and for all that I was going to publish the novel.

My point should be obvious by now: writing takes time. You can’t force an idea to emerge. Creativity doesn’t flow when you exert too much control. After years of writing, I have learned that I have to let inspiration guide me. As a practicing lawyer and mom too, I have also learned that I have to pick my battles in terms of creative ventures.

If there is one thing that breath focus meditation will teach you, it is patience. There have been countless times when I wanted to quit meditating when I was tired or bored or just over it. I won’t lie. Sometimes I did quit. But many times, maybe most, I continued on. In the moment I didn’t always know why.

Now, I know why not quitting matters. All those times, I was practicing patience. I was practicing keeping an open heart and a calm mind when things took longer than I preferred. In the moment, I wasn’t sure my effort was worth it, but I am sure now. Patience is an essential trait for a writer and I am glad mindfulness practice helped me cultivate it.

Image listing the five ways that mindfulness helps with writing a novel as shared in the blog post

3. Meditation Gave Me Plenty of Experience Dealing with Doubt and Resistance.

If you are anything like me, the odds are that you will have an initial wave of pride after completing a new project. Soon enough, though, it may be followed by a wave of self-doubt and resistance. When I finished writing the novel, I had both.

Doubt definitely came up because I had never written fiction before. This was not unexpected. As I have written before, doubt is often strong for me. Any time I try something new, I have grown accustomed to looking for doubt to show up.

Normally, I can breeze right through it. But this doubt enlisted a friend: resistance. Do you ever have times when you just put things off? Or stubbornly refuse to do things you know you should? That’s resistance.

It can be a huge impediment to creative pursuits, like writing, and also moving forward in life. My resistance lied to me. It told me that I was too busy to focus on a novel. It worked with my doubt to convince me that nobody would read it anyway and continued effort would be a waste of time.

So, what did I do? Like in my meditation practice, I just kept paying attention. For a while, the doubt and resistance worked and the novel faded into the background. But when things calmed down in my life and law practice again, the novel came back to my mind. I realized that I cared about it enough to face the doubt and deal with the resistance. Because of my mindfulness practice, I knew that I could.

4. Mindfulness Taught Me Trust Myself, an Essential Trait for Writing a Novel.

I have written a few times before that mindfulness practice builds confidence. This isn’t in the brazen or brash kind of way. Instead, I think it comes from really knowing yourself. When you study yourself closely, you learn what works better for you and that helps you face life on your terms.

Writing is a deeply personal thing, even when the story you share is a made up one. Years of writing has helped me slowly build the courage to share my own story in this blog and elsewhere. It’s allowed me to see that I can be okay if nobody reads my writing or if people don’t react as I had hoped.

In part, this is because I often feel pride and joy in the act of writing and sharing itself. And, as a bonus, some people have read my writing and it has helped me make friends and build community.

Make no mistake. When you write, it is intimate and vulnerable. Because mindfulness helped me know myself so well, I developed good instincts about sharing. I learned I could trust myself and trust others too. That trust helped me see the book in terms of possibilities rather than fears.

5. Self-Compassion Helped Me Craft a Plan to Finish and Publish the Novel.

Did I mention that I have never written fiction before? So that means I was writing a novel without knowing how to write a novel. I was an English major in college but I have never so much as taken a creative writing course.

How did I let myself write a novel with no road map? Well, in a word, I used self-compassion, which may be the very best trait derived from my mindfulness practice. Years of writing has taught me that the first draft does not have to be good. Instead, it just needs to be out. I have to allow the messy mind dump so I can see what I have.

When I first read the draft, I needed self-compassion again. Rather than looking at it with an eagle eye, I paid attention to how I felt. I wasn’t looking for plot holes or typos. I was looking to see if I laughed or cried. Fortunately, I did both.

Finally, after languishing for more than a year, my last act of self-compassion was to enlist some help. I asked some friends to beta read the draft. I got some editing help. And I made a plan to get this project done this year. After all, haven’t I written before that success on long-term goals requires adequate support?

Now that I have some support, I have a real plan for publishing the novel in time for the holidays this year.

Image of an open book with the words "novel coming soon" and "stay tuned" and "Holidays 2026"

Mindfulness Helped Me Write My Book. What Could It Help You Do?

Mindfulness practice offers many wonderful benefits, including reduced stress, less rumination, improved health, and better relationships. I experienced all of those things. But when you hear about those benefits, you don’t always understand what it means in terms of a real life. As I shared in this post, all those wonderful traits from my mindfulness practice helped me pursue something I love: writing.

Most recently, it even helped me keep writing when a project I didn’t anticipate or ask for came up. My mindfulness practice helped me write my first novel. Now, I’d love to know, hear about, or see what mindfulness practice helps you do.

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5 Years of Blogging: Lessons Learned for Mindful Lawyers

Cover image for blog post with picture of birthday cake with candle in shape of number five and title "5 Years of Blogging: Lessons Learned for Mindful Lawyers"

I am really proud to say that I just celebrated five years of blogging. I started this blog in 2020 with little more than a vague notion that I wanted to write about mindfulness for lawyers. I was not sure I would be able to keep the blog going, but I did.

Here are the most surprising lessons I learned along the way.

1. Start with a Vision and Let the Plan Emerge.

Many people start a new goal and think a clear plan is an essential first step. I don’t disagree with this, but this could be an impediment for something new. When I started this blog, I knew a lot about mindfulness but I knew almost nothing about blogging.

What made me start was more of a vision. I knew that my mind was active and I need a place to share my thoughts. I also knew a lot about mindfulness and loved sharing about it. From experience, I also knew that there was a need for practical and accessible instruction for lawyers on the subject.

I did chart out a rough plan to get started. I planned to post weekly and created a few categories of posts to get me started, including:

Mindfulness Basics – posts teaching basic concepts and practices
Mindfulness in Action – posts illustrating how mindfulness works in practice
Brilliant Recommendations – book reviews and resource recommendations
Mind and Body – posts discussing body-based practices
Compassion Practices – posts emphasizing compassion and kindness.

At first, I stuck to this framework and I have on average stuck to my goal of writing weekly. Over time, I added more categories, resources, and meditations.

In other words, sometimes a vision is all you need to get started and a clearer plan can emerge with time.

2. Blogging Takes Some Discipline.

When I tell people that I practice law, teach mindfulness and manage a blog, they always comment on my discipline. While I have sometimes been skeptical about discipline, they do have a point.

In truth, much like mindfulness practice, discipline will not sustain a long-term habit like blogging. But that doesn’t mean it’s not important at all. Much like with mindfulness, I needed discipline to keep coming back to the practice.

There have been so many days when I did not feel like writing or told myself I could not think of a good idea. Then I made myself sit down for a little bit and at least try to write. And you know what? A blog post emerged. Over time, I kind of started to like this. I found it pretty magical.

That magic could not have happened without the small amount of discipline it took me to sit down and try. Discipline is not everything and should not be everything for a habit you mean to last for years but it matters.

3. Blogging Needs to Be Fun.

I have written before about the fact that mindfulness practice should ideally become at least a little bit enjoyable. Even with all the discipline in the world, I never would have kept blogging for 5 years if I wasn’t having some fun.

I love writing. It makes my mind feel better. It allows me to get some of my copious thoughts out of my head and provides much needed mental space. I also love sharing about things that light me up, whether it is mindfulness practices, good movies or music, or stories of amazing people.

There is no doubt that blogging is a ton of work. It required a lot of effort and time. But it also was fun for me to share my story and things I love and to watch something I built grow over time. Good habits require discipline for sure, but the best ones are also fun.

Image that says "celebrating five years of sharing mindfulness for lawyers! Thank you to our guest bloggers, readers, followers, and friends."

4. Good Habits Grow with You.

For good habits to stay fun, though, they have to change along with you. The thing about this blog’s five-year anniversary that makes me the most proud is that it really has grown with me. Change is something that most lawyers deal with frequently.

In the last five years, though, I experienced a lot. I had two job changes, I wrote 2 books and edited a treatise, and my daughters went from little kids to pre-teens. Because of this, I had to keep my blogging flexible.

There were times when I had to pause or take a break from writing. There were times when I wrote more because I had the energy. Part of the reason I think I made it to five years is that I let the blog have this level of flexibility.

5. The Best Habits Sustain You.

This is the thing that most lawyers don’t believe when I tell them. Blogging and writing in general give me more energy than they take. People always ask me how I find the energy to keep a blog going. Some of the answer is that creating things creates energy for me.

As I said, this blog has been with me through a lot of change. Some of the times in the last five years have been really hard. Though this blog takes a lot of effort, it also sustained me during those hard times.

For one thing, having a way to share beneficial things helped me avoid hopelessness when the the world was a challenging place. As a practical matter, much like I have written about when it comes to meditation, all the time I spent writing was time that I didn’t spend agonizing over work or my life.

In this way, writing on the blog gave me something to focus on besides the heavy parts of my life. Sure, I have to come back and face those parts eventually. But I could usually face them with a clearer mind and a fuller heart after spending a little time writing.

Conclusion

There are the lessons I have learned after blogging about mindfulness for five years. I am so glad that I got started and kept going even on the days that I wasn’t sure I could. Just like my mindfulness practice, writing helps me stay mentally healthy and teaches me so much. Thanks to all the lawyers, readers, followers, and friends who have supported the blog. It’s been a great five years and I hope I get to celebrate many more anniversaries in the future.

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Mindfulness vs. Ego: Finding Balance in a Digital World

Image of pawns with social media graphics with title "Mindfulness v. Ego: Finding Balance in a Digital World"

I spoke to a group of new law students this week and someone asked the best question about mindfulness and ego. I loved it because it showed a lot of courage and insight. The student asked me if mindfulness practice and blogging or social media are at odds because they contribute to ego.

The short answer I gave him is that this certainly can be a problem but it doesn’t have to be. I explained that anyone who writes or uses social media must learn some skills with managing their ego. And I explained how mindfulness practice can help with that.

After leaving the session, though, the question was still in my mind. It pointed to some fundamental questions about mindfulness and ego that I thought others might be asking. So in this post, I will explore mindfulness and ego a bit more deeply.

What Is the Ego?

Many of us use the word “ego” in conversation but we may not take the time to define the term. A common dictionary definition is “a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance.” Most of us wouldn’t argue that a healthy sense of self-esteem is a good thing.

But when I hear the phrase “ego” uttered, it usually has a pejorative connotation. This is because, as most lawyers have observed, it is very easy to get an inflated sense of self-importance. In fact, our hyper-individualistic culture can contribute to this.

This is why it may be helpful to look at the psychological and clinical meaning of the ego. The Cleveland Clinic explains that it is the “part of your personality that helps you make practical, rational decisions.” It also supports your ability to:

adapt to your environment;
regulate your emotions; and
feel like yourself.

Viewed in this more neutral light, you can see that ego is a part of the human psyche that may serve an important function.

Image of dictionary definition of ego as stated in the post which is "a person's sense of self-esteem or self-importance"

You Need a Healthy Sense of Self-Esteem

Given this, it would be a misunderstanding in my opinion to say that the goal of mindfulness practice is to overcome or eliminate the ego. In truth, as I have written before, I would be cautious about setting any specific goal for mindfulness practice at all.

Intention can be a wonderful guiding force to help motivate practice. Goals, however, often add a level of expectation that can undermine the cultivation of mindfulness.

In addition, high achievers like lawyers are encouraged to be cautious about pushing themselves too hard when it comes to self-improvement. If you are anything like me, you may need to learn to be kinder to yourself in meditation rather than more disciplined.

Along the same lines, some people may benefit from a more robust sense of self rather than a diminished one. This can include people with particular sensitivities, including histories of trauma or neurodivergence.

But It Helps to Get Clear about Your Life

With that said, mindfulness practices can help you explore the role of ego in your own life. As I have explained before, mindfulness practices are likely to help you explore the very concept of the self. Practicing mindfulness can help you see that “the self” to which you have grown accustomed is not a stable or static thing at all.

Taking time in your day to be present with your thoughts and feelings can give you an opportunity to become aware of patterns in your life. This can give you greater ability to notice, check, or even change some patterns that may not be ideal for you. It may also help you see the ways in which you are not separate from, but instead integrally connected with, others.

In many cases, you are bound to find (much like I have) that the ego is a present driving force in life. You may notice when a need to feel important or especially loved or better than others pushes you in ways that are not wholesome for you or other people. And even better, you may see ways that you can take care of your feelings and find greater connection with others in your life.

In all of these ways, mindfulness can help you understand yourself better, including the role of ego in your life. It can help you become clearer about your place in the world, so that you can navigate relationships more ethically. This can be a truly wonderful and life-changing part of the practice, but it is important to balance this inquiry with self-compassion.

Image of blog post author Claire E. Parsons with quote "Mindfulness practice doesn't mean we have to drop out of the world. It doesn't mean we can't pursue goals or things we love. It doesn't mean we have to change who we are."

Mindfulness, Ego, and Social Media

Given this clearer understanding, I want to return to the law student’s question to illustrate the concepts more clearly. The student asked whether things like blogging and social media are contrary to mindfulness practice because they can contribute to ego.

The operative word in this question is “can”. Most of us know that social media can certainly contribute to one’s sense of self-importance. We know that, depending on how it is used, social media is also associated with adverse mental health consequences and sometimes abhorrent conduct. Even if you aren’t a blogger, you may see how that can have the same effect. But I will say from experience that those things aren’t universally true.

For some people, blogging and social media might lead to unhealthy states of mind, like social comparison or perfectionism. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that those struggles sometimes happened for me. But I have learned to recognize when a striving attitude is taking hold and to give myself a break. I have adopted an attitude of fun and play when it comes to writing and the use of social media. I’ve also let go of expectations. If I have a goal, it is to share ideas and connect with others.

And in truth, I have had to learn how to navigate the negative aspects of social media too. I have had to learn how to not fight with strangers on the internet. I have hard to learn to state my opinions with humility and respect for the viewpoints of others.

In addition, I will be honest that blogging and social media have inspired a lot of humility in me. I have written so many things that never get read. I have had times where people criticize my writing. I have faced imposter syndrome so many times when I see talented people who do things better than me. In all these ways, blogging and social media have provided at least as many checks on my ego as they have provided temptations for it.

What Does This Tell Us about Mindfulness, Ego, and Pursuing Goals?

The big conclusion from all of this that most lawyers will care about is that I don’t think mindfulness practice means we have to get rid of our egos. Mindfulness practice doesn’t mean we have to drop out of the world. It doesn’t mean we can’t pursue goals or things we love. It doesn’t mean we have to change who we are.

Instead, mindfulness practice is really more about understanding ourselves more clearly so that we can engage in the world with greater kindness and skill. In this way, mindfulness practice is not inherently antithetical to the use of social media or to creating a robust body of work in the world.

The caveat here is that, of course, mindfulness practice should inspire you to watch the way you go about pursuing goals and crafting your body of work. It should cause you, at every turn, to consider the impact of these things on you as well as on the community around you.

If you practice mindfulness long enough, you inevitably will question yourself at times just like the law student questioned me. This part of the practice can sometimes be a gut check – or maybe an ego check – but it is one that has changed my life. And it is one that helps me stay honest on this blog and when I use social media. If you learn to make space for questions like these in your own mindfulness practice, they can change your life too.

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4 Key Traits of Effective Anchoring Practices

I have had a busy few months and it doesn’t look like things are going to slow down any time soon. When things get like this for me, I really appreciate the anchoring practices in my life to keep me steady. In case you don’t know what that means, this post will explain it and help you identify the practices that may serves as anchors for you.

What Is An Anchoring Practice?

Anchoring practices are the things we do in daily life that help us feel steady, nourished, focused, and in a state of flow. The practices that serve this purpose for me most frequently are meditation, exercise, writing, and cooking. You would think that in busy or turbulent times, these practices would be the first to go.

Over the years, though, I have noticed that the opposite is true. Rather than let these habits go when I am too busy, I rely on them even more. This is how the practices serve as anchors. They keep me grounded, steady, and calm enough to face life, busy and crazy as it is.

How to Identify Anchoring Practices for Your Life?

If you have practices in your life that serve the same purpose, you may be able to identify them very quickly. Many lawyers and professionals, though, don’t have time or reason to think this through. I find it helpful to have a framework for my well-being, though, because I can use it as a guide in times when I struggle or get stuck.

In case you need some help establishing or identifying potential anchoring practices for your own life, here are the four hallmark traits to consider.

1. You Genuinely Enjoy It.

For a practice to serve as an anchor for you, it needs to be something you will do consistently. To some degree, then, this means that you need to sincerely enjoy it. Does this mean that it will always be easy, risk free, or only feel good?

Not necessarily. When a practice becomes like that, you may get bored with it and it won’t keep your attention very well. A little bit of challenge and even some risk might be present in any good anchoring practice. But still there has to be something there that calls you back and draws you in again and again.

Crazy as it sounds, meditation serves this purpose for me. Yes, it is often boring and sometimes a struggle. But after years of practice I have come to enjoy it and generally like how it feels when I meditate. What practices are like this for you?

2. It Allows You to Be Yourself.

Another important thing about anchoring practices is that they allow you take your armor off. By this, I mean that you can really tell that something is an anchor for you if you feel like you can be yourself while doing it.

When you do the practice, there is no pretending or putting on a happy face or trying to appear professional. Instead, there is just you and the practice. It’s you as you are doing something you love.

Cooking is an anchoring practice for me because it allows my creativity and resourcefulness to shine. What activity in your life makes you feel like your most authentic self?

Image with 4 key traits of effective anchoring practices as shared in the blog post

3. It Nourishes You.

Another reason that you may come back again and again to anchoring practices is that they always give you what you need. This is to say that they nourish you in some way.

In many cases, lawyers have most of our basic needs met. As people who tend to be time poor, however, some essential human needs may get neglected. For many lawyers, and professionals, then, the most beneficial daily habits may give us a chance to get what we don’t otherwise get at work.

The practice that showcases this best for me is exercise. I love my law practice but it involves a lot of sitting around at my computer or talking on the phone. My daily Peloton workouts give me a chance to move, relax, and release excess stress. What practice in your life nourishes you?

4. It Creates Connections.

A final feature about anchoring practices is that they create connections. As noted above, this may include a chance to get in touch with oneself. In general, though, practices that connect us to others or something bigger tend to be the ones that stick with us throughout our lives.

All of the practices I mentioned above have this connecting force too, but the one that exemplifies it most for me is writing. As I have shared before, I am an introvert and can easily get very lost in my own thoughts and experience. It has been hard for me over the years to share my ideas with others and it took me a long time to learn to be myself.

Writing helped me do that. Though I do most of my writing on my own, sharing my work helped me create a community and build confidence in myself in all other areas of my life. What regular practices in your life create connections for you?

Want to Explore Further?

Though anchoring practices are not one size fits all, they have some essential features. If you are trying to identify or establish anchoring practices in your own life, look for these four things: (1) enjoyment; (2) authenticity; (3) nourishment; and (4) connection.

To explore this idea more, check out the Personal Well-Being Worksheet. It will help you identify the practices that support all aspects of personal well-being by guiding you through an assessment of basic needs.

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The Connection Between Mindfulness and Writing Success

Cover image for appearance on Dear Indie Author podcast on mindfulness and writing

As a mindfulness teacher and blogger, the connection between mindfulness practice and writing comes up for me a lot. Though I have always been drawn to writing and I do it every day in my work as a lawyer, I didn’t always consider myself a writer. It took many years for it to emerge as a real passion and part of my life.

How Meditation Led to Writing

If I never started meditating, there’s a good chance that I never would have discovered this meaningful pastime at all. As I have explained before, meditation helped me create the mental space that was necessary to recognize some of my copious thoughts as ideas. Over time, I also cultivated self-compassion and became more aware of latent judgments, so I could get ideas on the page.

Then, finally all the time sitting in meditation and the benefits it imparted convinced me of something fundamental: using some of my time to please myself was worthwhile. This helped me get over all the fears about writing being a “waste of time” or “too much work” or that “nobody would care.”

The Interview Discussing Mindfulness and Writing

I was fortunate to get a chance to discuss all of these things and more with fellow writer and coach, Shonda Ramsey. I met Shonda online when I saw her searching for self-published authors. Writing my first book was a great experience and one that has led to many other wonderful opportunities in my life.

I was glad to get to talk to Shonda about it and explain how mindfulness and creativity are interconnected. I was also pleased to discuss the fact that writing, a traditionally lonely endeavor, was something that led me to cultivate greater community. In fact, I was proud to share that I got help from a book coach to make the leap from blogger to author quickly.

How to Watch or Listen to the Interview

If you are interested in writing or wonder what mindfulness can do to help you get more creative in life, check out the full interview on the Dear Indie Author podcast. You can listen online, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify or watch the interview on YouTube here:

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