Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Roy Wyman authored an article for Law360 discussing mindfulness and meditation and how his commitment to these practices have served him in the legal profession. Roy shared an anecdote from his semester working as a busboy at a restaurant and the coworker who he came to admire because of her mindfulness and intentionality in everything she did: not bringing any particular attention to herself and simply existing in a zone of calm.
Discussions of mindfulness with lawyers seem to always involve the statement, “I can’t meditate because I can’t stop thinking,” but Roy noted that mindfulness is about noting thoughts rather than suppressing them.
“Mindfulness is not the lack of thought; it’s our relationship with thought that is important,” he said. “My job isn’t to stop thinking, but to watch the thought, notice when it inevitably passes and then return to my breath.”
Before it became a popular buzzword, mindfulness simply meant being aware of the moment in which you are existing. Roy noted that his former restaurant coworker was not empty-headed, but thinking and acting intentionally. He discussed how lawyers tend to respond that they are busy when asked how they are doing and questioned why the answer was never along the lines of feeling balanced and in the flow.
Roy pinpointed a larger issue with current work culture that considers stress a badge of honor, making every experience about ourselves and adding more weight to the load we carry. He shared how mindfulness influences his own work as a lawyer.
“Similarly, my task as an attorney may be to review a contract, but in reviewing this contract, at this moment, there is only one sentence. Reading mindfully, I set aside the prior sentence, and I have no knowledge of the next sentence. Yet somehow, I can hold all the sentences in this clause together, all the clauses in the contract in relationship, and allow a deep awareness to arise — an awareness that this indemnity cap will never work given our reps and warranties,” said Roy.
He shared insight on his time at a month-long silent meditation retreat in which he was able to recognize that some of the personal blocks that made his mind feel scattered were similar to ones directly tied to legal practice, such as imposter syndrome, wondering why I bother, and even ruminating on career paths you should have or still should take.
Roy elaborated on how lawyers need to focus on the moment and be aware to not make the work about us as lawyers, but about the clients. It’s normal to have a scattered mindset, but we should not let it affect our ego. “The ability to drop the ego, even a little, can be the difference between engaging in a bare-knuckle fight with opposing counsel and a jiu-jitsu side-step to let the other side fling itself out of the ring,” said Roy.
The article, “Mindfulness Meditation Makes Me A Better Lawyer,” was published on November 6 by Law360 as part of its Expert Analysis series where attorneys discuss how their extracurricular activities enhance professional development, providing insights and pointers that translate to the office, courtroom and beyond.