A LAWYER'S GUIDE - Restart One

‘This is for everyone’

(Tim Berners-Lee)

Way back in 2015 I wrote a book.

Which was reviewed here and here.

(Free Kindle sample here. And free download of the Executive Summary and Introduction here: Lawyers-Guide-excerpt.

And scroll down this page for a list of some edited and updated extracts.)

I’d retrained in therapy and had been working for a while as a counsellor while at the same time practising law.

Winding up and winding down.

By then I’d also been a volunteer with Lawcare for a few years. LawCare is a charity which helps stressed out lawyers in the UK. I help out on their telephone helpline from time to time.

Long story short, I spoke to friends at LawCare to find out if what I had in mind might be useful to lawyers.

They thought it would.

I pitched the idea to Ark, the publisher, with the help of a juggling ball and within 9 months a book was born.

The book was written with lawyers in mind – lawyers everywhere.

But the feedback I’ve had from non-lawyers has been that the life lessons have been helpful generally.

So, with the generous agreement of my publisher, I’m updating and blogging short extracts from the book which I think might be specially helpful to people – particularly at the moment.

In the words of Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the web, “This is for everyone”.

Not just lawyers.

The book is a pick and mix of theory and ideas and hacks which my clients tell me they’ve found useful. And which I’ve been helped by too.

It’s structured around the idea of ‘Open Mynd’.

Open: for those who find that new opportunities in life seem closed, or a sense of optimism lost. Helping us to think about ourselves, our communities and our potential in new, creative and imaginative ways.

And to be open to the possibilities and challenges of change.

Mynd: which stands for Me, You and Do.

(Yup, I know, the ‘n is a bit cheesy, but it fits).

ME– being mindful. Thinking about how to cope better with stress and things that hold us back from realising our potential.

YOU– mind-mindedness and interpersonal relationships.

DO– being aware of stuff that has happened, including changes, losses and difficulties in the past that may have led to where we are now.

And what we can do to change things.

The ideas are fleshed out by three fictional volunteers: Andrew, Beth and Chris. Their experiences illustrate some troublesome (and remediable) aspects of life.

There’s a lot going on at the moment which will require new ways of thinking about seemingly intractable social and institutional problems.

Here goes …

SO WHAT?

Wicked problems

Legal un-wellbeing

A little more on un-wellbeing

Starting to tackle wicked problems

Tattoo and taboo

Psychodynamics

STRESS HAS HAD A BAD PRESS

Some roots of stress

Juggling with stress