Life Is Your Teacher

When you question your path or your progress, remember that Life is your greatest teacher. Every experience has something to offer you. Having a meditation practice, and bringing more mindfulness to your life, can help.

Transcript

Welcome.

I'm glad that you're here.

Today we're talking about this idea of life being your teacher and the way that things can come full circle.

Another way to think of it is that an experience you have that might not make sense initially can sometimes turn out to be incredibly valuable and a really important part of your life journey.

And I think this is really important to mention,

Especially in the context of meditation and mindfulness,

Because it's normal to look for teachers to provide us guidance or to give us the steps or the techniques in order to feel more present or to access whatever it is that we're looking for in our practice.

And really,

Really,

It is your own life that is teaching you all of the people that you encounter,

Including myself,

Who step into the role of being a teacher.

We're really just support and signs along the path.

Ultimately,

The job is to learn to become attentive and present and to become so engaged in your own life that that becomes that that primary relationship so that you don't become attached to a teacher in the same way that you don't get attached to the map that you follow in order to get someplace.

I mean,

The point is to be on your journey and the point is to be present along the way and then to arrive wherever you'd like to arrive.

And the map can certainly help you.

But we don't need to celebrate or revere the map.

We want it to be useful.

But we also want to remember that you're still the one taking the steps.

You are still the one who is actively making use of whatever guidance or assistance the map or that teacher is offering to you.

So I want to share a story.

And it goes back 15 years ago or so when I was in law school.

And there's a class that I everyone was required to take.

And I think it was called Professional Responsibility and Ethics.

And it was really talking about,

You know,

How to be responsible as a professional,

And how to be ethical as a lawyer and some of the challenges that come up.

And I remember that the teacher shared with us,

He said,

Did you know that lawyers will experience higher rates of divorce than non-lawyers?

And that lawyers experience higher rates of substance abuse and mental,

You know,

Illness,

Depression,

Anxiety,

And that lawyers experience and commit suicide more often than the general population.

And I thought,

Oh,

My gosh,

What am I getting myself into?

Is this true?

How is this possible?

And what really struck me and what really created this spark,

This question of like,

What is this profession all about that I'm moving towards?

Was this thought of,

You know,

Lawyers,

The job is to be an advocate.

So why do they seem to not be able to advocate for their own health and well being?

I mean,

If the skill and the work is about standing up on behalf of someone,

Why is it that they can't do it for themselves?

And I held this question as I finished law school and began to look to the beginning of my career after that.

And I learned also that,

You know,

So once you finish law school,

Then you have to take the bar exam.

And I took the bar exam and I passed it.

And then I learned that forever,

If you are a practicing lawyer,

You will need to continue to take continuing legal education classes,

Which makes sense.

You need to continue to refresh your knowledge base,

You know,

The laws change,

You need to make sure that you're staying up to date with them.

But that there were a couple of requirements.

No matter what your practice area was,

Whether you're a family lawyer,

Or a corporate attorney,

Like whatever kind of lawyer you were,

You would have to always take a class,

Like every three years for the rest of your practicing life on substance abuse.

Well,

In California,

Back then it was called substance abuse awareness.

Now they've changed it.

It's called competency.

But this struck me as something again,

Astonishing.

You know,

If attorneys are intelligent humans,

And if they have the skill of being an advocate for others,

Then how come they always have to remember and go through this repetitive course on the importance of,

You know,

Being mindful of substance abuse and of not developing these habits or patterns that can really undermine your ability to practice law effectively.

And also just as a human can really interfere with your ability to live a full and healthy life.

And this seems so strange to me.

So okay,

Now it's 15 years later,

I'm not a practicing lawyer,

I've left,

I now teach meditation,

I am a coach,

I do different kinds of work,

But I still sometimes work with lawyers,

Either one on one,

Or I'll teach these mindfulness workshops to lawyers.

And what I learned is that recently,

There has been a change in the law,

The way that the state of California describes this particular issue.

And it's no longer around substance abuse exactly.

But they talk about competency.

And it's rule one of the rules of professional conduct.

And specifically,

It says,

You know,

A lawyer shall not intentionally recklessly with gross negligence or repeatedly fail to perform legal services with competence.

Now,

That sounds reasonable,

Right?

Like part of the job is you must be competent.

It's very,

Very basic expectation.

But then it says,

For the purposes of this rule,

Competence in any legal service shall mean to apply the learning and skill and mental,

Emotional,

And physical ability reasonably necessary for the performance of such service.

Now,

This stood out to me,

The mental,

Emotional,

And physical ability.

What we're really talking about here is we're talking about well being.

We're talking about wellness,

We're talking about you have to care about your own personal mental health,

Emotional health,

Physical ability as part of doing this job as part of this profession.

And I'm mentioning this for a few reasons.

One is that I have a talk coming up to a group of lawyers as I've been re immersing myself in all of this.

But two,

It really highlights for me,

And I want to offer this to you,

That you might be on a path in your life and you don't fully appreciate how it is teaching you something about who you are,

What you are here to offer and contribute to the world,

And how these experiences will come back to serve you and allow you to be of great service to others.

The same questions that I was beginning to ask 15 years ago,

When I was just finishing law school,

And thinking about what my life will hold and what I will do with myself professionally.

Now continue to illuminate my path even as I am a meditation teacher,

Bringing mindfulness to humans in all different professions,

Different industries,

Different parts of the world to humans at different life stages.

And I find it to be both deeply encouraging the sense of your life is your greatest teacher.

If something doesn't totally make sense in the moment,

It's okay.

Maybe it's not supposed to quite yet.

And really holding with so much value and appreciation,

Every step that you have taken in your life,

Everything you've experienced,

Everything that you have explored,

Even the things that might have seemed like failures,

Or that might have seemed like disappointments,

Or that might have seemed like they only came into your life for one reason.

You don't actually know how it all plays out.

And all of the ways that it's shaping who you are,

And how you can bring your attention and presence and unique gifts into this world.

As we meditate,

We connect more fully to life itself and to life through us.

You become more aware of your own thoughts,

Your own desires and emotions.

You become more capable of bringing compassion and friendship and loving kindness to all beings,

To those you know personally into those that you might never meet.

It's such an incredible gift.

And even though you might not know exactly how it's all going to go,

How it's all going to play out,

It's okay.

What if you didn't have to know exactly?

What if you could trust the experience that life offers you that you show up for one moment at a time,

Over and over again,

One breath at a time,

Over and over again.

And what if you decided that you were going to take care of your well being because it was part of your life and yours to care for,

No matter what.

So that's what I wanted to share with you today.

Thank you so much for being a part of this community,

For sharing some of your attention and your light with us and with all of those around you.

Take good care.

See you next time.

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