Handouts for Calm in the Midst of Chaos
These handouts accompany the CLE entitled, “Calm in the Midst of Chaos: Resilience Training.” Think of these tools like you would a pocket knife. There are specific tools for specific scenarios. For example, if you do not have any problems with sleep you will find little use for the handout entitled, “Sweet Dreams.” Use those that resonate for you. Take what you like and leave the rest.
Making Sense of Mindfulness and 5-4-3-2-1
A Framework for Lawyer Wellbeing
Sweet Dreams (suggestions for help falling asleep and staying asleep)
Weather Patterns (discussing meditation as a tool for less stress and emotional reactivity)
Coping with Uncertainty (excellent discussion of problem solving approaches vs emotion based approaches using cancer remission literature as an example of coping with long-term uncertainty)
Validation (discussing fight or flight response and prolonged stress disorder’s impact on mental health)
Your Surge Capacity Is Depleted and It’s Why You Feel Awful (discussing long term effects from the pandemic)
Practicing Internal Boundaries and Taming the Bully Lawyer (great discussions about detaching from other people’s dysregulated state)
His Client Lied (example of using the serenity practice in the heat of a mediation gone sideways)
Being of Service (one lawyer’s story about how reframing his role/changing his mindset made all the difference)
Supplemental Books
All of these books explore resilience and well-being from different angles: some take a humanistic/psychological approach, some a neuroscience approach, while some approach it from a more spiritual or religious framework. LAP is not promoting or endorsing any one approach or any religion or religious point of view. Again, use what resonates for you and discard the rest.
- Waking Up by Sam Harris (A guide to meditation and mindfulness as a rational practice informed by neuroscience and psychology)
- The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor (A positive psychologist’s perspective on happiness and well-being that explores the relationship between happiness/well-being and success)
- Buddha’s Brain by Rick Hanson (A neuroscientist’s exploration of practices to change your brain to improve well-being and reduce suffering)
- Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach (A psychologist’s approach to facing emotional pain and reducing suffering through the principle of accepting what is)
- The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (A mindfulness guide to living in the present moment to find contentment in one’s daily life)
- Into the Silent Land by Martin Laird (a book written by a priest explaining meditation and contemplation from a Christian centering prayer approach to reduce suffering and gain insight into one’s reactions)
- The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer (A book that taps into the traditions of meditation and mindfulness and offers practical skills to free yourself from the thoughts that cause suffering)
- The Good Life by Robert Waldinger (A book that discusses the findings from the Harvard Adult Development Study and the importance of relational connection)
Supplemental Videos
Laughter is Good for the Soul (a quick 2-minute video to help you laugh)
Stress: Portrait of a Killer (55 minutes; opening scene does a great job of explaining the stress response)
A New Way to Look at Stress from a Resilience Lens (a 15-minute Ted Talk by Kelly McGonigal that is worth watching for ways to think about stress response to build resilience)
The Good Life (a Ted Talk about the Harvard Adult Development Study and the critical importance of good relationships on our health and happiness)
Flipping our Lid (a quick 2-minute video that explains nervous system dysregulation fight/flight/freeze/fawn response)