Mindfulness Approach Initiative
for Clients, Lawyers/Professionals, Collaborators
Legal education, legal science, legal research and the legal profession, like society at large, are in a period of transition. Lawyers, professionals and law students today face unprecedented challenges, from upheaval in the legal market, to seismic shifts in health care, financial markets, the environment and other sectors. We, legal professionals, need new skills, and we believe deeply that one of them is mindfulness, the ancient practice of moment-by-moment, non- judgmental awareness.
Mindfulness, like the rule of law, serves as a vehicle for establishing a more enduring stability.
“Lawyers survive in a sea of interconnected relationships. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is absolutely necessary. Mindfulness builds the muscle of EQ”
Charles Halpern
The Scuola Legale Diffusa announces the mindfulness approach to legal practice in order to increase awareness of mental health issues and improve well-being of our team/collaborators and to thrive and effectively service our clients in this time of uncertainty.
We, the International law school based in Sicily - charged and equipped to serve society, resolve conflict and establish a more stable order — is looking to mindfulness as a tool to help serve this noble end.
Global legal services delivering depends significantly upon the synthesis of the foundations, principles, established by law, and some top value that a lawyer is devoted to serve. We announce the mindfulness approach to legal practice, a powerful skill, a way of living and practicing.
The roots of our mindfulness are:
Christ and the Mediterranean Style of Life.
Jesus not only knew Mediterranean Lifestyle and mindfulness, but practiced and taught it.
"Christ is God’s Infinite Intelligence that is present in all creation. The Infinite Christ is the “only begotten son” of God the Father, the only pure Reflection of Spirit in the created realm. That Universal Intelligence, the Kutastha Chaitanya or Krishna Consciousness of the Hindu scriptures, was fully manifested in the incarnation of Jesus, Krishna, and other divine ones; and it can be manifested also in your consciousness."
- Paramahansa Yogananda, The Yoga of Jesus: Understanding the Hidden Teachings of the Gospels
We announce that the Mediterranean Lifestyle is a manageable style of life, friendly to health and environment, that, when fortified with its biblical antecedent attributes, may prove to be the most enjoyable and considerably healthiest.
We lay the foundation and pave the way for an urgently needed movement within the law that can, hopefully, only gain momentum. Such foundation and such way are applicable for every lawyer\professional/client, independently from the political settings, the nationality, the place of living, the job, the age etc.
We, Scuola Legale Diffusa, advocate the potentially transformative effect of mindfulness in law.
A basic feature of our mindfulness approach is the close link with scientific thought and research.
Features of our mindfulness approach are:
- We are professionals-thinkers.
-.We are global professionals, living the Mediterranean LifeStyle.
- We are contemplative professionals-mindfulness practitioners.
- We are aware professionals, conscious of our thoughts regarding application and interpretation of legal norms in a just way.
- We are wise professionals, full of prana energy.
- We are professionals-observers, grounding ourselves in the present case/legal issue, acknowledging what we are thinking and feeling – but without being negatively reactive to it.
- We are mindful professionals, aware of our emotions, and how we're feeling both physically and mentally. We are our best selves.
"Mindfulness means paying attention, but in a particular way: a) with intention, b) in the present moment, c) in a non-judgmental way"
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
The benefits of our mindfulness approach practice are numerous and varied:
- Bringing us back to the present and grounding us.
- Reducing stress, improving well-being, increasing immune functioning, boosting memory and focus, increasing relationship satisfaction, enhanced self-insight, morality and intuition.
- Developing the skills of creativity and of deep and open listening.
- Increasing the ability to transcend the dominating influence of the traditional adversarial mind-set to allow awareness of other perspectives.
- Developing negotiation skills by training in the maintenance of a delicate balance (in understanding, emotion and behaviour) necessary for making wise decisions.
- Fostering the ability for calm deliberation, which promotes better decision-making in difficult situations.
- Cultivating trial advocacy skills by developing internal abilities to, for example, remain centred in challenging moments in court and retain authenticity.
- Enhancing the performance of traditional legal tasks, such as learning, understanding and manipulating rules of law, drafting documents and litigating cases.
- Enhancing ethical practice through, for example, developing the self-reflection skills important to judgment and also because mindfulness makes it more likely that one will adopt universal norms such as honesty and fairness.
- Making the practice of law more meaningful and satisfying generally.
- Expanding focus to include broader orientations towards lawyering (for example, restorative justice, therapeutic jurisprudence, collaborative law and other healing, peace-making perspectives).
In our legal practice mindfulness means attention with intention in a present legal issue/case in a non judgmental way.
It can also be described as a way to achieve a fuller presence in every case/legal issue.
How we implement mindfulness:
- We’ve introduced Golden Hours, designating hours in the day when our team members and collaborators feel free to take a break and spend some time for themselves. These golden hours provide our professionals with a sense of freedom to prioritize their own well-being.
- We’ve introduced a new Series on Mindfulness aimed at educating our team and our collaborators how to put this practice into every case/legal issue/working day.
The article on Mindfulness titled “Mindfulness, Quantum Physics and ‘well-being is a two-way street” by Prof. ON Kuyan, Dr, PhD, is the scientific foundation for our approach.
Those lawyers who are able to achieve this state of awareness may find it easier to then implement other reformal strategies. Every day Series will provide a basis for incorporating mindfulness into achieving zen and overall well-being for our team/collaborators and for the best legal services delivering for every client.
For more information, read The Series on Mindfulness or take a look at our Case Studies and News.