Mindfulness and Laser Focus

More than a decade ago, as a keen lawyer, I stood outside a tribunal hearing room 30 minutes before the start of a week-long hearing.

I was prepared. I had good witnesses and a strong case. Usually, I handled pre-hearing jitters well, but not that day. My heart was pounding, my chest and throat were tight, and fear gripped me. I froze.

At the time, I had been reading The Compassionate Mind by Paul Gilbert, but I hadn’t thought to apply its lessons on compassion to the often unforgiving world of litigation.

I slipped into a breakout room, closed the door behind me, and took five deep breaths. Then, unprompted, I began gathering a sense of compassion for others. For me, compassion means imagining a radiant warmth extending from myself to those around me, picturing them in their best light, knowing they carry the same anxieties and hopes as everyone else.

I walked through the hearing room in my mind. I acknowledged my client’s anxiety, having placed their trust, hope, and money in my skills. I extended that same compassion to the opposing counsel’s clients, imagining them approaching the process in good faith, rooting for a favourable outcome. I thought of the witnesses—mine and theirs—nervous about being cross-examined, eager to show their expertise. Even my opposing counsel, perhaps feeling the same pressure to perform at their best, received my compassion. Lastly, I pictured the decision-maker, wrestling with the weight of rendering a fair judgment.

I finished with myself, acknowledging that my anxiety was natural and didn’t diminish my role as a “zealous advocate.”

This exercise, which took no more than five minutes, transformed how I conduct hearings to this day. I returned to the hearing room with a new relationship to my anxiety, which soon passed like a cloud. During the hearing, I was laser focussed on advancing my case in an alert, calm and grounded way. My cross-examinations were more effective than ever, objections and challenges to my case could not knock me off-course. And through it all, my tone and tenor was calm, controlled and respectful.

I conducted a hearing in a way I had never thought possible. It’s counterintuitive, but by practicing compassion I became a more effective advocate for my client.

This real-world test of compassion's power was a revelation. It set me on a path to make compassion—and its companion, meditation—an ongoing part of my life.

Ride Still is the next step in this journey. Through it, I'm creating, enjoying, and sharing meaningful connections between people using these powerful tools of compassion and meditation.