The Joy Of Waking Up

Joy.

In those midnight hours, staring at a screen, it can feel so elusive. There might be a sweet FB pic of a friend or a kid, or the moon might be rising right outside the window, but how to import those moments of sweetness, of joy, into the every day (or every night) grind of the law?
It really is possible but - you might have noticed - it's not our default mode. In fact, being a pessimist, seeing the glass half empty, can be a real asset in our profession. Just not so much in our lives.

Transcript

Hi everyone,

This is Judy Cohen and this is Wake Up Call 389.

A little bit of a bumpy morning here.

So here we are,

We're still exploring the seven factors of awakening,

Which are mindfulness,

Investigation,

Energy,

Joy,

Tranquility,

Concentration,

And equanimity.

And so far we've looked at mindfulness,

Investigation,

And energy,

And last week was an exploration of energy,

But not just energy,

But joyful energy.

And I really love that way of looking at the quality of energy we put into our meditation practice and maybe also into the law.

So now let's look at joy in a tricycle magazine has a great section if you've never seen it called Buddhism for Beginners.

And in there they list the seven factors of,

They call it seven factors of enlightenment,

Which is another name for it.

And here's what they say about joy.

Joy comes from the application of mindful energy.

Okay,

So that's what I've been saying is that these seven factors support one another.

They're not sequential.

And so,

And the second thing it says is finding joy in the practice is essential for maintaining a steady practice.

Who wants to persist in a joyless endeavor?

And I like that question,

Who wants to persist in a joyless endeavor?

And I like it even more when I think about the law,

Right?

So,

But before thinking about the law,

Let's look at the first question.

And it's not phrased as a question at all.

How does joy come from the application of mindful energy?

So just answering for myself and everybody else do that too.

For me,

When I'm sitting regularly and I'm bringing that feeling of going for it to my cushion each morning and to my mat and to my interactions,

My portable practice,

Something changes in my formal practice and in my portable practice in my life.

And I notice I'm paying closer attention to what's happening moment to moment off the cushion,

You know,

To what people are saying,

To their body language,

To what I'm feeling,

To my own body language,

To not wanting to harm anyone or cause pain or to looping back with them if I've done that,

You know,

Really investigating each moment with more courage or as many moments as I can and doing it with a lot of joy.

And even in those moments that I don't feel joyful,

Doing it with a lot of gratitude for the practice,

Which then often for me points to more joy.

Okay,

So how does joy come from the application of mindful energy?

That's what I would say.

And then I think the question of joy in the law is a pretty big one because yeah,

There's still so much depression,

Anxiety,

Burnout,

Suicidal ideation,

Suicide,

Trauma,

All of this,

It's almost woven into the profession.

Sometimes it seems like it's part of the fabric of the profession for some of us.

And so when I look at joy as an awakening factor,

The question that I have is,

You know,

How can we turn up our own joy for ourselves?

Yes,

Absolutely.

And also to benefit everyone in the profession,

You know,

Without losing track of the seriousness of our causes,

Of our cases,

Because in the end,

Our practice isn't for ourselves,

Even though it's great for ourselves,

It's for the benefit of others,

For the benefit of the world.

And that thought takes me to that as lawyers,

We are really out in the world,

We understand so much about how the world and society works.

And we have all that power,

All that influence.

And I know I say that a lot,

But I really believe that we do and that because of that,

And also because we're mindfulness practitioners,

You know,

We have the responsibility and also the ability to make intentional choices about how to use our influence.

And if we don't do that,

We get what we have.

So we get a default to using influence in whatever ways we were trained to do that as kids or young people,

As law students,

As lawyers,

By society.

And by society,

I really mean in the US anyway,

Probably in most places by the patriarchy,

Which is not necessarily the wisest way to use our influence or the way we would choose in our wisest moments,

Which is with kindness and compassion for everyone and with joy.

So,

But backing up,

Why is there not already more joy in the law and more joy flowing out from the law in an influential way is also a really interesting question.

And I think Rick Hansen in his first book,

Buddha's Brain,

He talks about this inadvertently.

He's not specifically talking about the lawyers,

But he talks about how a single bad event,

Like he gives the example of a terrifying experience with a dog,

But I'll just suggest a terrifying experience with a judge or a senior partner or a client imprints on our brains much more vividly than all the good experiences with that same animal or person or type of person.

So,

If right now you were to tell the story of your life in the law right now,

And I'd never said what I just said,

What would come to mind?

Would it be all the time someone was kind and peaceful and loving in the courtroom or in the conference room or on a screen and then modeled that out into the world,

Maybe?

Or would it be those standout times when somebody started shouting,

When you got blamed for something you either didn't do,

Or at least had tried your best to avoid when you were the victim of bias or disparagement or anger or hatred,

Right?

So,

If it's the latter,

That's the brain.

We've evolved to focus on negative experiences because otherwise,

How will we avoid them in the future?

And if we don't avoid them in the future,

How will we survive?

We know the sound of a truck barreling into an intersection.

We've logged it in the danger center of the brain,

The amygdala.

And the next time we're about to step off the curb and we hear that sound,

We don't need our prefrontal cortex.

Now,

That sound goes to the amygdala,

Which then bypasses reason and imagination and goes straight to our bodily fight flight response.

And we jump back on the curb and we live to tell the tale.

But on the other hand,

All those moments of joy,

That sunny afternoon,

Which it looks like we're going to have today,

Amazingly,

The kind words from a judge or a colleague,

The days when there wasn't much traffic,

All of that gets logged too.

But since we aren't programmed to believe we need it to stay safe,

To stay alive,

It's not a survival issue.

So it's not necessarily logged in a way that it automatically comes back up and reminds us,

Watch out,

The traffic might be light today,

Or be careful,

That judge might be fair.

And so Rick Hansen calls this phenomenon in the mind,

Velcro for the difficult experiences and Teflon for the joyful ones.

The hard ones are logged because we need them to survive and the joyful ones aren't because we think we don't.

Okay,

So we think we don't,

But we do,

Right?

Or we do if we want to have a joyful life in the law or otherwise,

Right?

They have to get logged so that they can come back up so that they can be there for us and remind us to look for the next joyful thing.

And that's the antidote.

You know,

How can we shift so that we're logging both in a way that they come back up?

And James Berraz,

Who's my teacher,

Wrote a whole book about this called Awakening Joy,

Which I highly recommend.

And one theme throughout the book,

Which to me has been the biggest key to cultivating more joy is simply to notice more joyful moments.

And I think we can think of this in terms of what Adrienne Marie Brown says,

What we practice at the small scale sets the patterns for the whole system.

And now I'm talking about our internal systems and the systems that we have the ability to influence,

That we influence inadvertently even if we're not being intentional.

So starting small and even staying small,

The question is,

What can we notice right in this moment?

So maybe there's a beautiful light in your space,

Or maybe your internet is working,

Right?

If it weren't,

I'm guessing you'd be noticing.

So what about noticing that it is?

Or your body is feeling well,

Or there's some element of wellbeing that you can notice in yourself,

Or someone you love is doing well.

Pick one person and take a moment to notice.

And actually,

This is important,

Take a few moments to settle into that feeling of joy for the light,

For the internet,

For your own measure of wellbeing,

The wellbeing of others in your life,

Right?

And the practice is simple.

It's not easy because we're swimming against the stream of millions of years of evolution,

And frankly,

Hundreds of years in the law of learning to focus on what's wrong,

What could go wrong.

So we just chip away at all that,

And it's not easy,

But it's simple,

And start to intentionally use mindfulness and investigation and energy to notice more joyful moments and let them swish around in the mind,

In the body,

And then see how it goes,

And see if we start noticing even more joy.

Okay,

So let's sit and finding that comfortable posture,

That posture which brings ease and also energy and some measure of delight to this moment,

Some measure of joy.

And the invitation is to just be with whatever is arising,

And particularly to notice the joyful moments right now.

And when the mind wanders,

Just coming back and really setting that intention to look for the joyful moments and let them swish around in the mind,

In the body.

And if negativity bias starts to creep in,

Just make a little bow to it.

Thank you very much.

I know you're there.

I know you're there.

I know I need some of that to survive,

Not get run down by that truck.

And is there some joy that you can point your whole being at right now?

Noticing the joy,

Lifting it up,

Letting it swish around,

Or noticing the wandering mind and turning towards that with joy.

Oh,

Thank you.

And come on back.

Where is the mind now?

Is it looking at something joyful,

Lifting that up?

If not,

The invitation to locate something joyful.

And if it's not there,

That's okay too.

Being joyful for the effort,

The intention that the practice is not easy,

And that maybe with practice it will get easier.

So gentleness and kindness all around for when the joyful moments appear and for when they're not available.

Thanks everyone for being on today's wake up call.

I want to dedicate today's wake up call to Charity Scott,

Who was a member of the mindfulness and law community from as far as I know,

It's very beginnings almost.

And she passed away last weekend.

She was a professor at Georgia State.

So sending love to Charity wherever she is.

Thanks everyone.