Mindfulness: staying in the now.

• Author: Cohen, Myer J. Michael
• Position: Special Issue on the Benefits of Mindfulness

When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. (1) --Wendell Berry OK, c'mon. How many of you read the above and thought to yourself, "rest in the grace of the world?" "Free?" "Easy for you to say, but try balancing my practice, my family, time to do the things I love, and time for myself." Or, as Manhattan criminal defense attorney Scott Greenfield commented, he has "nothing against stress relief but doubts that a regimen of meditation, daily affirmations and Qigong training will cure the ills of the profession." (2)

No one can argue that the law is not a "jealous mistress." (3) We deal with deadlines, statutes of limitation, billable hours, expectations (often unrealistic) placed on us by clients, judges, supervisors, and, most often, ourselves. Law students deal with competition from other students, an atmosphere of "dog eat dog" (sometimes fostered by the administration itself), the elusive scramble for the highest GPA, class rank, extracurricular honors, such as law review, moot court, and student government, and a sometimes brutal admission process.

All too often, these stressors can lead to maladaptive coping mechanisms, such as substance abuse, unresolved anxiety and depression, and online addictions, including porn and gambling. A number of studies indicate that lawyers and law students suffer from substance use disorders and mental health issues at a substantially higher rate than the general population. (4) At Florida Lawyers Assistance (FLA), our clinical director, Dr. Scott Weinstein, receives almost daily hotline calls from lawyers who are paralyzed because of stress, and I and our assistant director, Judith Rushlow, deal with calls from lawyers, law students, partners, spouses, and judges regarding possible substance abuse and other harmful behaviors that often represent an attempt to self-medicate stress and depression.

Suppose there was a way to deal with the stress we face as legal professionals that could benefit our quality of life, rather than diminishing it? Mindfulness practice...