The Energy To Awaken Our Best & Brightest Legal Mind

Hey everyone,

It's Judy Cohen and this is Wake Up Call 388.

And I have a new microphone so if you have any feedback,

No pun intended,

For me,

Send me a note after the wake up call.

Hopefully it's a little bit better sound.

So we've been exploring the seven factors of awakening and we've explored mindfulness and investigation so far.

And mindfulness,

We all know,

Is present moment awareness and we need that courage,

That grace to turn toward what's.

.

.

Plus it's about understanding how we're experiencing each moment.

Is it pleasant?

Is it unpleasant?

Is it neither?

And then investigation is what's going on but at a really granular level.

Is my thinking skillful and pointing towards less suffering or is it unskillful and pointing towards greater suffering?

And investigating before I say or do anything and also,

Or if I don't catch the before,

Then instead investigating the impact of what I say or do and making reparations if I've caused harm.

All of which is not so different from our ethical obligations as lawyers.

And mindfulness and investigation is about doing all of that with kindness and self-compassion,

An abundance of that,

And with an abundance of compassion and love for others,

Which is different,

At least from what we're taught to do as lawyers.

Maybe not what we're doing,

But what we're taught to do.

And then as with the other five factors,

Which are energy,

Joy,

Tranquility,

Concentration,

And equanimity,

Just remembering that mindfulness and investigation are already present.

And it's just so important to remember that.

We're not learning something new.

These powerful,

Beautiful qualities,

They already exist.

They exist in our hearts.

They exist in our minds and they exist in the hearts and minds of everyone else too.

So what we're doing that's different from folks who maybe aren't practicing is we're cultivating them.

We're lifting them up.

We're examining them,

Seeing how we can really let our mindfulness shine,

How we can investigate with a little more curiosity and open-mindedness or don't-know-mind.

And we're honing in on,

We're lifting up the other five factors of awakening as well.

So let's look at energy.

Energy,

As we're cultivating the seven factors of awakening,

Is about how we apply ourselves to the task at hand,

Our mindfulness practice,

Our practice of investigation.

When we add energy into the mix,

We're saying,

I'm committed,

I'm dedicated to waking up.

I'm going to pay attention and investigate in an energetic way.

So the first question could be how much energy is enough?

And in one way of thinking,

It's whatever is right for each of us.

And we're all really busy people.

So that's important to remember.

I've heard that the Dalai Lama gets up at 4 a.

M.

And practices for four hours every day.

And I'm pretty much 100% sure that's not going to eventually be what I do,

But that's His Holiness's way.

And He's certainly shining a light for all of us with His practice.

And for me,

Anyway,

He's sparking my imagination of what energetic practice could be.

And Suzuki Roshi,

The founder of San Francisco Zen Center,

Who was also a great light to us in terms of how much energy to put into the practice,

He was famous for telling his students that if they didn't have time to sit for an hour every day,

They should sit for two.

And I love that as an aspiration for myself as well.

There's a simile in the ancient texts that addresses this question of how much,

And it's called the simile of the lute.

A monk named Sona goes through a crisis of doubt.

He's practiced day and night until his feet are literally bleeding and raw from walking meditation,

But he feels he isn't getting anywhere,

Quote unquote,

Right?

And he's about to abandon his life as a monk,

But the Buddha,

Who knows that Sona is an excellent musician,

Says to him,

When you string the lute too tightly,

Does it make a beautiful sound?

And Sona says,

No,

The sound is shrill and tense.

And when you string the lute too loosely,

Does it make a pleasing sound?

No,

When the strings are too loose,

It makes an unpleasant sound.

So how does the lute sound when it's tuned just right,

Asks the Buddha,

And Sona replies,

It makes a beautiful sound.

So the Buddha says,

Sona,

If you practice with too much energy,

Too much zeal,

Your practice will be like the strings of the lute tuned too tightly.

If you practice with too much energy,

You will sink into sluggishness and lose all mindfulness.

If your practice is evenly tuned,

It will be like a lute that makes beautiful music.

And then there's the quality of the energy.

What quality of heart and mind to bring to our energetic practice?

I think of Norman Fisher writing about effort or energy as joyful effort and how he says it wants to be irrepressible.

His invitation to us is to practice mindfulness,

Investigation,

All of our practices with gratitude,

With joy,

With gladness,

With irrepressibility.

That sense of I can't wait to get to the cushion and see what's there.

To cultivate so much joyful effort that every day,

Every moment of every day,

We're practicing wholeheartedly,

Whether we're on a cushion or not.

And when we're not,

We're ready to do what has to be done to heal the world.

Or we're actually,

He says,

Looking for things to do,

And we're also not overwhelmed.

We're energized.

And he also reminds us that no matter how energetically and joyfully we work,

Even with the work of a lifetime,

We should remember that we aren't going to finish.

We aren't going to make all the progress we hope to make,

Save all the clients or beings we hope to save,

Get to the bottom of our inbox or get to the bottom of the world's inbox.

And that's okay.

That's okay.

When I notice that my energy for my practice is low,

I sometimes feel disappointment.

And when I notice it's high,

I sometimes feel pride.

But I know that for me,

A better way to approach low and high energy is to remember that disappointment isn't what I want to cultivate,

And pride is also not what I want to cultivate.

And then when my energy is low,

I can just stand up or do some walking meditation or do some yoga and also be okay with that it's low,

And at the same time,

Take action to bring it up.

And when it's high,

I can remember that the Dalai Lama practices four hours a day,

And I can be joyful about my own practice,

But also very humble.

One thing I also do try to remember is that mindfulness is onward leading.

I sit down,

Begin to pay attention moment to moment,

Remember my commitment to investigate each moment with kindness,

With self-compassion,

And with an aspiration to ending suffering in the world.

And often what I notice is that my energy comes up.

In other words,

What I notice is that mindfulness begets mindfulness and investigation begets investigation.

They reduce my own suffering.

They give me the energy to be helpful to others.

So in my experience,

Energy yields more energy.

Translating this into the law,

Bringing attention,

Investigation,

And energy into the practice of law and asking what that looks like or how much energy is enough or what that quality of energy might be.

I want to leave you with a quote from Learned Hand.

He says,

We may not stop until we have done our part to fashion a world in which there shall be some share of fellowship,

Which shall be better than a den of thieves.

Let us not disguise the difficulties.

And above all,

Let us not content ourselves with noble aspirations,

Counsels of perfection,

And self-righteous advice to others.

We shall need the wisdom of the serpent.

We shall have to be content with short steps,

And we shall be obliged to give and take.

We shall face the strongest passions of humankind,

Our own not the least.

And in the end,

We shall have fabricated an imperfect instrument,

But we shall not wholly have failed.

We shall have gone forward if we bring to our task a pure and chastened spirit,

Patience,

Understanding,

Sympathy,

Forbearance,

Generosity,

Fortitude,

And above all,

An inflexible determination.

We shall have gone forward if we bring to our task a pure and chastened spirit,

Patience,

Understanding,

Sympathy,

Forbearance,

Generosity,

Fortitude,

And above all,

An inflexible determination.

So that's one way of looking at energy for us in our honorable profession.

And with that,

Let's sit.

So finding your posture,

The posture that will most support your practice,

Something that is relaxed but also upright,

Relaxed but also energetic,

Maybe flipping that,

Energetic but also relaxed,

Bringing the attention to the body first,

Connecting with the earth,

Whether you are fortunate enough to have your feet on the actual earth right now or whether she's many stories down,

Connecting with the earth,

Connecting with yourself,

Your own good heart,

Your own beautiful heart and mind,

Connecting with one another,

The 35 of us who are here today,

And then anyone in your community,

Community of practice,

And then connecting with everyone,

All the humans,

All the animals,

All the beings,

And the earth herself,

And then bringing the attention to the breath or to the sound in your environment,

Beginning to follow the breath or follow sound,

Watching as the breath flows in and out or as the sounds arise and fall away,

And just checking in with your energy,

Your joyful energy,

Your irrepressible joy,

Turning the corners of the mouth upwards to bring up that joy,

Just practicing for the love of the practice,

Paying attention,

Investigating for the love of the practice itself,

And to contribute that irrepressible joy to all of your encounters today,

Really letting it just bubble up.

And I'm going to ring the bell,

But don't end your practice.

Bring that irrepressible joy with you out into your day.

Yeah,

The world needs our joy today.

So bring it with you.

Thank you so much for being here and practicing together,

And have a safe,

Safe and good day,

And I'll see you next Thursday.