Lawsagna

Spring Equinox

It's been busy around here (I will update on the developments soon), and my blogging gave in.  Today is a fresh start.  It's Spring Equinox.  The word "equinox" derives from the Latin words "aequus" (equal) and "nox" (night), which translates into "equal night."  During the equinoxes, the Sun is positioned directly above the Earth's equator, and day and night are about the same length all over the world.  Some believe that we should actually make our plans for the New Year on Spring Equinox.  The winter months preceding the Spring Equinox are good for reflection and contemplation, but now is the time to spring into action.  Have you given up on any of your 2008 resolutions yet?  Today may be a good day to bring the important objectives back into focus.  Let's get in sync with nature, affirm our clear intentions for 2008 and receive the energy boost we need to shake off the winter slumber.

Shorten your learning curve!

What do “love” and “law” have in common (besides the fact that they both start with “L”)?

I won't be eating chocolate today as I am on a 30-day raw food experiment.  As I sit here buzzing from all the sweet fruit I've consumed (I hope it's the fruit), I am pondering the following question:

What do "love" and "law" have in common (besides the fact that they both start with the letter "L")?

Service comes to mind.  The value of the legal profession is measured by the service we provide.  And the service is driven by love.  What we love, though, varies from person to person.  One could be driven by:

• love for people;
• love for justice;
• love for ideas;
• love for lifestyle;
• love for money;
• love for family;
• love for himself or herself (self-worth)
• etc.

Does the nature and quality of our service depend on what we love?  What do you think?  What drives your service?

Shorten your learning curve!

Go Red for Women

Today, February 1, 2008,  is the National Wear Red Day.  Its goal is to promote awareness of heart disease and empower women to reduce their risk.  Cardiovascular disease is the No.1 killer of American women and the cause of one in every 2.6 female deaths. 

Consider these alarming heart health statistics:

• One in three women has some form of cardiovascular disease.
• Cardiovascular disease kills approximately 460,000 women per year.
• More women die of cardiovascular disease than the next five causes of death combined,
  including cancer.

It may be a little late for a wardrobe change, but it’s never too late to learn more about your heart.  Read about the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women Campaign and take the Go Red Heart CheckUp for a personal heart-health assessment:

"This important tool forecasts a woman’s 10-year risk for heart disease and provides a personalized action plan to help women reduce their risk. Go Red wants women to know their numbers and track their blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose and weight and keep them in a healthy range."

Practice of law can be stressful.  Please keep your heart safe and spread the word.

Shorten your learning curve!

   

VizThink Conference '08

VizThink Conference '08 will take place on January 27-29, 2008 in San Francisco.  Even if you cannot attend, you may want to visit the conference website and check out a number of available podcasts and webinars on the topic of visual thinking.  They also have a blog and a wiki with additional content.   

"VizThink is gathering visual thinkers from all corners of the world to create the first global community dedicated to the use of visualization in all forms of learning and communication."

Blawg Review #142: Letter to New Lawyer

Blawg Review #142 is here, hosted by Susan Cartier Liebel at Build A Solo Practice, LLC.  It is designed as a “Letter to New Lawyer,” and it will make you think, dream, laugh, learn and soar!  Be sure to read it.

My wellness mindset newsletter

I have some exciting updates to share with you.  I’ve been busy cooking up a few new things for 2008.  One of them is the launch of my weekly wellness mindset newsletter “Well-Aware.”  I publish this newsletter for my coaching clients and other busy professionals who want to create a healthier lifestyle by building a wellness mindset.  The focus is on effective thinking.  Some of the topics I’ll be exploring are:

• How to develop a mindset for health and well-being.
• How to overcome limiting patterns of thinking and behavior.
• How to maintain a positive mental attitude.
• How to generate more “A-ha” moments and better insights.
• How to listen to your body and your intuition.
• How to discover your unique sources of wellness and vitality.
• How to limit negative thoughts.
• How to get yourself unstuck and moving in a powerful new direction.
• How to use your mind for effective self-regulation.
• How to persevere and reach your wellness goals.
• How to leverage the power of proven methods for managing stress.
• How to use mindfulness to change unhealthy patterns in your life.
• How to figure out and focus on what’s important to you.

If you’d like to subscribe, just complete the form in the right-hand column of this blog (under my picture) or on my Buddy-in-Law coaching page. 

I also plan to focus more on the issue of wellness in the legal profession this year.  It pains me to see that so many talented and highly motivated people, who are very good at serving their clients, have trouble making decisions when it comes to their own life and well-being.  I know the traditional law firm culture often makes it difficult for lawyers to take care of their own needs.  But the bottom line is that the change starts with individuals, and we all need to stay well in order to work and live well.

I’d love to hear what your biggest challenges are when it comes to wellness.

Claim your best life now!

 

Happy New Year!

So here we are – already in 2008!  Does it seem like life speeds up with every passing year? I hope you enjoyed your holidays and are gearing up for a happy, healthy, and joyous new year. 

The year end was sad for us as we lost our first dog, Lusha, to a complete kidney failure.  She had a congenital kidney disorder that was diagnosed when she was 2.  Despite a poor prognosis, she managed to make it to 5 on a special diet.  We appreciate the time we had with her as she was a very special dog, a tough cookie, and the best escapist artist I had known – no gate could keep her fenced in.  We all miss her.  We are now a one-dog family. 

Now it is time to come up with a game plan for 2008.  Do you have one already?      

12 Days of ...

Cookies:

"Celebrate the holidays with a different recipe every day"

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/12_days_of_cookies

Fitness:

"Question: What Do You Get When 250 of The World's Leading Experts Decide To Work Together To Help Hundreds Of Thousands Of People From All Around The World Achieve Their Health And Fitness Goals... For FREE?"

http://www.12daysoffitness.com/

 Supercharge your life!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Many thanks to all my readers! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Healthy Thanksgiving

I like to cook and eat during the holidays.  I don’t concern myself too much with low fat cooking on Thanksgiving, it is a celebration after all.  On the other hand, I don’t want to pack on extra pounds either.  (By the way, you may have heard that people typically gain 5 to 10 pounds during the holidays.  This claim may be a bit exaggerated.  Studies show that most people gain about a pound, only 10 percent of people gain more than 5 pounds. Not that it is an excuse to overindulge.  The bad news is that those extra pounds are hard to lose and they add up over the years.)  I don’t pour spoonfuls of melted butter over food if I can help it, so I was receptive to the idea of checking out healthy Thanksgiving recipes from EatingWell.  I think I will give their Frozen Pumpkin Mousse Pie a try.  You can’t go wrong with the pumpkin and ice-cream combination.

For tips on how to avoid packing on extra pounds, check out this article from NIH News in Health.


Refocus, Recharge, Rejuvenate!

What would it take to bring more energy and wellness into your life?  To adopt a healthier lifestyle? To nurture your Self?  Let’s explore it together.  Don’t give in to churn and burn.  Email me at support@buddy-in-law.com to sign up for a free coaching session.

A Brand You World - Global TeleSummit

Today I am listening in on “A Brand You World - Global TeleSummit.”  Here are just a few presentations I want to hear:

10am ET: Evangelizing Evangelists to Build a Business and Build Your Brand a panel facilitated by Guy Kawasaki with Krishna De, John Jantsch, Andy Sernovitz, Tim Demello.

11am ET: How To Write A Great Business Blog with Debbie Weil.

12pm ET:  How Coaching For Performance Can Help Your Employees Develop Their Personal Brand and Realise Their Potential with Carol Wilson.

4pm ET: Promoting Brand You with Viral Marketing on the Web with David Meerman Scott.

6pm ET: Identity You: Creating a Personal 5x5 Branding Strategy with Phil Gerbyshak.

If you can’t listen to this event today, the recordings will be available as a free podcast on Monday.  You need to register to get the instructions for accessing the podcast.

Time to let your monsters out

We all have them.  Hidden in our own haunted houses, they wait for the right moment  to pounce and send chills down our spines.  Do you deny the light of day to any of your fears, negative habits or concerns?  Halloween is a perfect time to acknowledge their existence and have a little fun with it.  Here’s what you do.  Let’s say, one of your haunted house inhabitants is procrastination.  Pick a monster toy for it.  For example, rubber worms in green oozing slime can be a nice representation of being stuck.  Get all your monsters and gremlins out of your haunted house and line them up in a place where you can see them.  Let them hang out there even after Halloween is over as a reminder of who is in charge.  Monsters tend to have less control over you when you see them.  Whenever you feel their creepy presence, just take a look at their toy representative and have a laugh.  They are really not that scary in the daylight.

Happy Halloween!

Extreme pumpkins

Are your pumpkins ready for Halloween?  If you need inspiration, check out Extreme Pumpkins.  Scary stuff.

Lawsagna turns one year old today!

I’ve been serving up Lawsagna for a full year now.  It’s been an exciting year, filled with blogosphere explorations, new friends, and lots of learning.  I am happy to report that many stop by for a Lawsagna bite, and some opt for seconds.  I’ll do my best to keep it healthy and varied.  And if you like it, I can deliver Lawsagna right to your mail box. 

Thanks a lot to all of you for your support!

Blog Action Day: Learning about the Environment

The 15th of October is Blog Action Day.  Thousands of bloggers put their thinking energy into one issue today – the environment.  They write about it in their own ways, weaving the topic into the themes of their blogs.  So, how are we learning about the environment? 

Some learning we do by choice, other comes to us the hard way.  Learning about the global warming and its effects is an example of the latter.  You may have heard about the four stages of learning:

1. Unconscious Incompetence.  We don’t even know what we don’t know.
2. Conscious Incompetence.  We are aware of what we don’t know.  We know what we need to learn.
3. Conscious Competence. We have learned enough to be able to act in accordance with our knowledge, but we still have to think about it.
4. Unconscious Competence.  The new behavior becomes natural, we don’t have to think about it any more. 

The events of this year shifted many of us into the conscious competence stage.  We know what we should and shouldn’t do to make a difference.  We know enough about the issues to start acting accordingly.  Sustainable living takes planning, adjustment, and concentration.  There is still a lot we need to learn as individuals, families, communities.  Any change is hard, and it takes effort.  It is easier to leave the computer on because that’s how we have always left it.  It is easier to toss a can into the trash rather that look for a recycling bin.  It is easier not to think about those habitual actions.  After all, they are part of our unconscious competence.  And we have to replace them with the skills that we are still learning, and it is a challenge.  Practice is really the only way.  “Think and do,” “think and do” will eventually evolve into “do and do,” and think about something else.   That’s when the environmental consciousness will become part of us, so much so that the new practices will be automatic, just like brushing our teeth in the morning.  But even then, we will still be learning about exciting discoveries and new better ways to do things, and we will continue trading our unconscious behavior for the conscious again.   It is a never-ending process, but hopefully, the one that leads to a better life on this one beautiful planet.

The Inter-Pacific Bar Association scholarships for young lawyers

Young lawyers who are involved or have interest in a cross-border practice may want to check out the scholarships from The Inter-Pacific Bar Association. 

The Inter-Pacific Bar Association ("IPBA") is an international association of business and commercial lawyers with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region.

The IPBA scholarships enable young lawyers to attend the IPBA’s Eighteenth Annual Meeting and Conference which will be held in Los Angeles from April 27 – 30, 2008.

The highlight of the year for the IPBA is its annual multi-topic four-day conference. The conference has become the "must attend event" for international business and commercial lawyers. In addition to plenary sessions of interest to all lawyers, programmes are presented by the IPBA's eighteen specialist committees. The IPBA annual meeting and conference provides an opportunity for lawyers to meet their international colleagues with Asian practices and to share latest developments in cross-border practice and professional development in Asia.

Here is the link to the PDF file with the description, requirements, and the application form.

Learning Incubator

• Are you a knowledge worker whose livelihood depends on how quickly and accurately you process information each day?
• Are you a life-long learner with the passion and curiosity for knowledge who wants to use this knowledge for impact?

Pull up a chair, get your cup of coffee (or tea) and join our conversation about informal learning and professional development.

Think how rapidly things change nowadays.  Successful knowledge workers have the skills to learn fast, think clearly and act decisively.  They don’t feel overwhelmed with information because they know what to look for and how to find and prioritize it.  Yet, many of us would probably agree that we have very little time to work on the skills we need to learn better.  Here’s an idea.  Let’s have a conversation about our informal learning and professional development.  How do we learn?  What works and what doesn’t?  How can we maximize our learning “on the job” – by doing what we already do anyways, but perhaps with better approaches, frameworks, and focus?   

Are you ready to take charge of your learning?   Join our Learning Incubator community to share your learning goals, achievements and tips for success, to inspire and get inspired to be the best learner you can be.  Bring curiosity, humor, respect, and appreciation – that’s how we learn best.  The membership is free.  What’s there to lose, except a good conversation?

LawSchoolExpert offers "I've taken the LSAT; Now What?" webinars

Ann Levine at LawSchoolExpert offers free webinars "I've taken the LSAT; Now What?" in October.   The dates are Monday, October 1st (8pm EST/5pm PST) and Saturday, October 6th (Noon EST/9a.m. PST).   Click here for details on how to register.

A learning community in the works

I am working on a new idea right now and have a question for you.  Even though my posts often focus on the formal legal education, some of you may know that I also have a strong interest in informal learning and professional development that happens on the job and outside formal training programs.  It is a fascinating topic for me because that’s how we learn most of our adult life anyways.  I suppose, informal learning becomes even more important these days because:

• Things change fast, and it can be hard to keep up without feeling overwhelmed.
• People change their places of employment and careers more often, so they have to learn effectively and efficiently to be able to make a quick impact.
• Some of us are Renaissance souls who just like to learn new things.
• Many companies face knowledge transfer issues as baby-boomers retire. 
• In the legal world, law schools don’t teach all the practical skills lawyers need and at the same time law firms no longer have the time and capacity to train their young lawyers, so law graduates have to fend for themselves.  It is even more important for those who start their solo practices or join smaller firms, which is the majority of law graduates. 

With that in mind, I plan to start a free-membership community to have a conversation about how we learn informally and test-drive some of the approaches.  Perhaps, we could share our learning goals, aspirations and stories, talk about what works and what doesn’t work, offer tips and support for our individual learning journeys.  It would be nice to know how we can maximize our learning while doing what we would do anyways, but perhaps, with better approaches, structure and focus.  It can be similar to weight loss support groups, except instead of losing pounds, we will be gaining knowledge.  What do you think?  My other site, Buddy-In-Law, which allows forums, wikis and other neat social networking things, can probably accommodate this.

If you think you may be interested to join, please send me an email to ana (at) lawsagna.com, I just want to gauge the potential interest.  I’d also appreciate any suggestions you may have on categories and topics for discussions.

Gone Fishing

I am on vacation this week, so I won’t be able to post as frequently.   To make sure you  have enough to read (I know…couldn’t resist), here are a few links to various resources on learning skills.

How to manage time better:
Time Management Pretest:  How Efficiently Do I Manage My Time?
Time management tips and resources from Academic Skills Center at Dartmouth College
Time Management Schedules to download form Academic Skills Center at CalPoly
21 Ways to Add More Hours to the Day at Lifehack.org

How to process information better:
10 Essential Mind Mapping Links at Codswallop
Improving Note Taking with Concept Maps at Mind Tools
Memory Principles:  Quick Reference Guide for Brain Compatible Learning Principles

What resources help you study better?

A slice of "Lawsagna" with a "Cup of Chai"

I am brewing my own learning concoction as a guest blogger at Cup of Chai.  Inspired by the unique design of My Cuppa, a color-matching guide mug that allows you to mix milk with your coffee just the way you like it by matching the color guide on the inside of the mug, I wonder what kinds of ingredients I would choose for a learning potion.  You take a sip and turn into the best learner you can be.  Do you want to know the recipe?  Follow me all the way to Switzerland.

I am thrilled to be an Official SOB

Liz Strauss at Successful Blog honored me with the title of an Official SOB –
a Successful and Outstanding blogger, that is.  Here is what she says about SOBs:

They take the conversation to their readers, contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on. Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Nice!  Thanks to Liz, I am now in a great company of the SOBs.  Check them out. 

A learning whirlpool

When was the last time you experienced a learning whirlpool?  Learning whirlpools happen when the tides of curiosity and synchronicity meet to produce a rapid stream of ideas that spin and jolt you to the core.  Learning whirlpools are energizing and refreshing for the mind.  Here comes one now...

Begin with a question, or “5.75 Questions You’ve Been Avoiding”.  Feel the pull of your curiosity:  “I had an ‘itch’ I had no choice but to scratch.”  (Danny Meyer, the author of “Setting the Table” interviewed by Rosa Say).  Let go of the familiar ground and lead the change: “transform an idea into a plan into an action.”   Embrace synchronicity.  Feel the rush of thoughts, take a deep breath and submerge into silence, watch a new story unfold in your mind’s eye. Be yourself and notice what makes you happy.  Write your story "with all your senses."    

**This was my attempt to respond to Liz’s "Think and Link" challenge inspired by Joanna Young.  That was fun.  My head is still spinning with all the things I learned.   

Drum rolls, please…Buddy-In-Law is here!

I’ve been waiting for this moment for a while now…for almost 8 months, to be exact, filled with my labor of love, lots of learning, anxiety, and anticipation.  Finally, I am happy to announce the launch of my internet-based learning portal – Buddy-In-Law.com.  I envision this site as a platform where I offer training courses and workshops for legal professionals.  The first course on the menu is Introduction to Legal Writing, designed  for individuals whose first language is not English and who want to study law, conduct research in U.S. academic institutions or work as legal professionals.   The course builds the foundation of effective legal writing while introducing students to the US legal system.  Students practice the basics of case analysis and legal reasoning as they learn to structure, develop, revise and edit their writing, and get familiar with some key concepts from logic and rhetoric.  Conceived for non-native speakers of English, it can be a good review course for anybody who needs to brush up his or her writing skills.

The course is designed in the Open Source course management system Moodle, which supports the “social constructionist pedagogy” (for those who care).  What it means in practical terms is that the course platform allows for good interactive components, including chats, forums, and instructors’ feedback.  At the same time, it is very flexible.  Students can access lessons at their convenience and progress at their own pace.   Please check it out, tell your friends who may be interested in the course.  I’d also appreciate any feedback you can give me.  Lawsagna, of course, will continue as usual, and hopefully, be even better, with your help and support, my dear readers.

Stumbling out of the bar

There are ten minutes left.  You are done.  You look at the notebooks and try to remember if you need to return and check on a section.  You could also add this…but no, you are going to trust your initial instinct.  Maybe, you don’t really trust it, but you trust your brain six grueling hours later even less.  So you just sit and stare at the notebooks, and then you hear:  “Put the pencils down,” and so it’s settled.  The place is slowly starting to buzz.  As you stumble out of the room, you tell yourself:  “It’s over…done deal!”  The whole thing is a bit anti-climatic.  You are tired, and your feelings are numb.  But a sense of relief begins to envelope you slowly and cautiously.  The following couple of days will be strange.  You will have to find something to do to fill the vacuum of the day.  But it will be nice so you will let yourself float in this newly formed vacuum.   Or maybe you already have booked a ticket to the Caribbean so it’s almost time to pack.   

To those of you who are taking the bar this week, good luck!  It will be over before you know it. 

Letter to a Young Lawyer

Inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Letters To A Young Poet,” Stephanie West Allen of Idealawg invited her readers to post on their blogs their “Letter to a Young Lawyer.”  Since I receive correspondence from the ABA Young Lawyers Division, I am among the audience, still trying to figure things out.  But I decided I’d give it a shot and write about a few paradoxes that I observed in law school and the beginning of my law practice.  So, here we go.

Dear Young Lawyer:

You have chosen a profession and a career that is full of contradictions.  By now, you should be comfortable with contradictions as they are abundant in the pages of law books that you are reading.  They are just another problem to solve.  Isn’t it what we do – solve problems?  This brings me to the first contradiction:

1. Lawyers are very good at solving other people’s problems, but they often disregard their own needs, hence the sad statistics on the dissatisfaction and burnout among lawyers.  Wouldn’t we take better care of our clients if we took better care of ourselves? 
2. If you entered law school because you were not sure what you should do with your life, be aware that you can graduate from law school, pass the bar and begin practicing, and still not know what you should do with your life.  The upside is that you can pay your bills as you are trying to figure out your life’s purpose. 
3. Some people love law school and hate the practice of law, others hate law school and love the practice of law. 
4. Everybody wants to be in top 10 percent in law school, everybody can’t be in top 10 percent in law school.  According to the ABA Legal Education Statistics, in 2006-2007, 43, 920 students were awarded J.D. or LL.B. degrees.  10 percent of that is 4,392.  There is a future for you in the legal profession even if you are not in top 10 percent, and (gasp!) you haven’t done the law review or moot court. 
5. Contrary to what your classmates, career services and other stakeholders want you to believe, you don’t have to go into BIGLAW if you are in the top 10 percent.  What will make you feel the blood rushing in your veins every morning?  (“Coffee” is not the right answer here.)
6. You may like a certain subject matter in law school but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will enjoy that area of practice.  Stay flexible, get a taste of various areas of practice, rotate through different departments in your summer programs.  Give yourself time to decide.
7. In law school you are led to believe that the practice of law is about unique knowledge, expertise, and problem-solving skills.  Once you begin practicing, it becomes more about people and relationships, just like in any business. 
8. There is no “one day” and you won’t have free time, so find a way to do what you want to do right now.  If you are “paying your dues,” make sure you know what you are getting in return.   
9. The practice of law is local in nature, but you are likely to feel the global currents more and more these days.  Stay informed of what is going on in the world and how it affects the profession.   
10. The world is changing faster than you can say “mutatis mutandis,” be prepared to change with it.  Gerald Weinberg wrote in “The Secrets of Consulting”:  “When change is inevitable, we struggle most to keep what we value most.”  If you find yourself struggling, it’s a good time to ask what is important to you and how you can get it.

Willful thinking: the “Gotta’ Get Goals” project

I was tagged by Stephanie West Allen of Idealawg to participate in Alex Shalman's "Gotta' Get Goals" project:

In a new blog post, list and write about the top 5 to 10 goals that you gotta’ get so that you can truly say you have achieved your wildest dreams in life. These have to be your best, most exclusive, and over-the-top goals that you can pick off your goals list.

Stephanie’s email created a chain of serendipity as the night before I was reviewing my list of 100 goals that I made after reading The Power of Focus by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Leslie Hewitt.  The review, in turn, was prompted by the talk by Dax Moy on the Anatomy of a goal that I recently listened to.   He reminded me of the importance of identifying why I wanted to achieve my goals and the price I was willing to pay for it because goals come with a price tag.   

I like the idea of letting my goals “age” like Champaign concealed from the world in dark cellars so that when the time is right, they can come to life with a celebratory pop and a splash of energy.  That’s why I have taken liberty to cloak my goals in the quotations I like, instead of revealing them outright.  Being indicative of my goals, these quotations inspire me and remind me why I do what I do.  They are part of my vision board.  I had fun selecting them and I hope you enjoy reading them.

1. “We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.”
   - Peter Drucker
2. “There are three ingredients to the good life: learning, earning, and yearning.”
   - Christopher Morley
3. “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
   - Frederick Buechner
4. “Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after.”
   - Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift From the Sea
5. "The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating – in work, in play, in love." - Anne Morriss
6. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
   - Anaïs Nin
7. “Each day comes bearing its own gifts.  Untie the ribbons.”
   - Ruth Ann Schabacker
8. “You have been given 86,400 seconds today.  Have you used one to say ‘thank you?’"
   - William A. Ward
9. “If we want to simplify and deepen our lives, we must simplify and deepen our minds. When we become more centered, clear, spacious, caring, and open, there is suddenly much more room in our frenetic lives for both others and ourselves.”
   - Lama Surya Das
10. The Law of Least Effort..."Today, accept people, situations, circumstances, and events as they occur. Take responsibility for your situation and for all those events seen as problems. Relinquish the need to defend your point of view."
    - Deepak Chopra, Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

If you want to share your goals with us, consider yourself tagged!

Free movie tickets to "Peaceful Warrior"

Do you want to see an inspirational movie for free?  Universal Pictures and Best Buy will give away up to $15 million in free tickets to the nationwide release of "Peaceful Warrior" on March 30 - April 1.  Starting March 18, you can obtain up to 10 free movie tickets.  For information, go to the Best Buy site.  "This truly is an example of an offer with no strings attached," according to Adam Fogelson, president of marketing, Universal Pictures.

Smart bites

Today I am serving up a few brainy diet suggestions along with a story of how you can turn a dinner plate into a memory peg. 

For an appetizer, choose among The 29 Healthiest Foods on the Planet, as recommended by Belly Bites (via Lifehack).  How about some crab cakes for vitamin B12 and zinc to boost your immunity?  Or steamed artichokes with zesty lemon juice on top to give you a nice dose of antioxidants?  Plus, the smell of a lemon will invigorate you.

For the main course, fish curry looks good, according to Eat Smart by Christen Brownlee in Science News Online.  The foods you eat affect not only your body, but your brain as well.  You probably already know that fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for your brain.  What you may not know is that curcumin  -  a component of the curry spice turmeric -  may reduce the amount of beta-amyloid, a protein that can aggregate into waxy deposits that have been associated with Alzheimer's symptoms.

You can finish your dinner with a choice of Top 10 Foods for a Good Night’s Sleep, suggested by Yahoo! Food.  Sleep allows us to consolidate our memories so that we can learn new things.  Did you know that March 5 – 11 is 2007 National Sleep Awareness Week?  To catch some Z’s, drizzle a little honey in your warm milk or treat yourself to one of the low-fat lullaby muffins, made with whole-wheat flour and bananas (the Yahoo! Food article has the recipe). 

But before you doze off, check out the Waffle House grill cook cheat sheet via information aesthetics.  It illustrates the way in which a cook marks the orders.  For example, a tub of jelly placed upside down at the 6 o'clock position on a dinner plate indicates scrambled eggs and a wheat toast.  It made me wonder if a dinner plate could be used to memorize, let’s say, the filing deadlines for pleadings in the civil procedure rules.  One minute of a clock can represent one day so to remember the deadlines, you would need to visualize the positions of the clock hands.  Then, you can come up with foods for different stages of the process, and you are ready to arrange your “action-plate.”  Is it too much work for what it’s worth?  I don’t know.  Sleep on it. 

More on the importance of perspective: view from the top

Last week I wrote a tip bit about the importance of looking at a situation from different perspectives.  Later, I received this photo via email, which seemed to be a perfect illustration of how a choice of perspective defined the outcome.  It was taken by photographer George Steinmetz for National Geographic Magazine (you can download the image as wallpaper from the National Geographic website, look under Week 4). 

Do you notice anything special about this photo?  Spoiler:
The actual camels are the tiny white lines on the ground.  The large black silhouettes are shadows.  This is a view from the top.    

Now, that’s a bling worth seeing…

Now, that’s a bling worth seeing, but you have to travel far.  To the constellation Centaurus, 50 light-years from the Earth, to be exact.  10 billion trillion trillion carats of diamond twinkling in the space.  This gem is the crystallized carbon heart of an old star, the so called white dwarf, discovered by astronomers.  How is that for a symbol of Universal love?  And Universal Abundance.

Give love.  Feel love.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

The Secret Society of Happy Lawyers

The Idealawg and Life at the Bar are conspiring to start The Secret Society of Happy Lawyers, but it looks like some secrets may soon come out.  How about opening the VALVE of Happiness as a rite of initiation?   The VALVE is a code that stands for:

• Vision.  Happy lawyers have a vision of a better world and a better Self.
• Attitude.  Happy lawyers have an attitude that enables them to meet daily challenges with courage and grace.
• Love.  Happy lawyers share love for people that inspires their service.
• Values.  Happy lawyers have values that guide their choices.
• Energy.  Happy lawyers have energy that propels them to do the best work they can.

Are you ready to open your VALVE of Happiness?

Related post:
Happy hour for lawyers:  interview with Alexander Kjerulf, Chief Happiness Officer

Happy New Year!

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."
Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Happy New Year!

Lawyers appreciate mentorship

An appreciation storm is taking over the legal blogosphere thanks to the efforts of Stephanie West Allen of Idealawg and Julie Fleming Brown of Life at the Bar. I got swept away by the idea.  Here’s my contribution.

Lawyers appreciate mentorship, especially young lawyers.  Practice of law is challenging.  The mental, physical and emotional demands of the legal career can be high.  Much has been written recently about the fact that law schools don’t prepare students enough for the reality of legal practice.  That’s why lawyers appreciate the guidance, care and wisdom of their mentors.  Counsels need good counsel.  They appreciate the time that mentors take from their busy schedules to teach, lead, encourage, inspire, and pass on the highest standards of work and ethics to the younger generation of attorneys.  This season, we take time to give thanks to people who touch our lives in a meaningful way.  So much of the law practice is about finding meaning in words, actions, events, relationships.  Our mentors help us to find meaning in our work and lives, so let’s not forget to show our gratitude to our mentors, and let’s take this spirit of appreciation into the upcoming year.

Cheer numbers

As we gather and celebrate the holiday season with family and friends, the U.S. Census Bureau keeps counting... Here's a link to some holiday-related facts and figures. 

Lessons from the crib

Ben Yoskovitz of Instigator Blog is running the group writing project “What did you learn this year?”  I thought his question was very appropriate for my learning blog, so here are my reflections on year 2006.    

2006 was a year of new beginnings and new learning opportunities for my family.  On December 13, 2005, we welcomed our baby girl into the world and began to learn about the joys and challenges of parenting (our two four-legged furry kids didn’t prepare us enough).  Five months later, we relocated to a different state, my husband started a new job, I left mine and embarked on the balancing act of caring for my daughter and working to launch my own business.  I picked up blogging along the way, which turned out to be a nice outlet for the frenzy of thoughts and ideas in my head.  My blog is about learning, and who is a faster and better learner than a baby? She has taught me a few things about this subject, and I am happy to share our lessons from the crib.

• "Practice" is the name of the game.  We’ve all heard:  “Practice makes perfect.”  Babies are wise, they somehow know it from the day they are born.  My daughter started with practicing her communication skills and making her intent loud and clear, a bit too loud for my ears.  With each new skill she learned, she exhibited the same effortless persistence, indicating that failure was not an option.  Such attitude encourages learning. George Leonard in his book Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment writes about the value of practice:  “Mastery is staying on the path.”  Next time you need to learn a new discipline or a set of skills, remember this and rest assured that you already possess everything you need to succeed.
• Learning is a laughing matter.  At which juncture on our way to adulthood did learning become serious and boring?  That’s certainly not the way my baby views it.  Learning is a fun and joyful activity for her.  She learns through play.  It turns out that positive emotions improve adult learning as well.   A good learning game that makes participants engaged and relaxed can accelerate learning.  It’s good to be a kid once in a while.
• There is more ways to learn than through words.  Babies learn through observation, touch, smell, taste, interaction.  My daughter loves music and dances every time she hears her favorite songs.  She is learning coordination and rhythm.  Adults also relate to information in multiple ways according to Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University who wrote the book Intelligence Reframed:  Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century.  Every day, I am reminded that multisensory learning is the best. 
• Curiosity drives learning.  I am amazed at how curious and observant my baby is.  I can read it in her face.  “Where did the noise come from?”  “What happens if I push this cup over the edge of the table?”  “What does this stuff taste like?”  I think adults are often too busy to be curious.  When was the last time you put “oblige my sense of curiosity” in your to-do list?  Maybe, we should give in to our curiosity more often even if it means that an hour disappears in pursuit of a random thought.   William Wirt once said; “Seize the moment of excited curiosity on any subject to solve your doubts; for if you let it pass, the desire may never return, and you may remain in ignorance.”
• “Do, or do not. There is no try,” said Jedi Master Yoda in Star Wars.  This lesson is about the mindset. Babies don’t try to do things, they do them.  Even when it appears to me that my daughter is trying to walk, in her mind, she is walking.  She is not thinking: “I am going to try to put that leg forward and see what happens.” She just does it.  What happens if we eliminate “try” from our vocabulary and just do things to our best ability?  Some good learning experience.
• Falls and bumps are just that:  falls and bumps.  They don’t mean we are failures.  They are not evidence of a faulty character.  They are part of life.  Just get up and keep going, like babies do.
• Learning needs support.  There are times when my baby wants me to hold her and comfort her.  She needs my support, and she knows I am there for her.  It gives her confidence and a sense of security.  While our adult education system encourages competition, I think, we can all benefit from cooperative and supportive environment when we learn.
• When you don’t quite understand something, smile.  My baby must think I am silly.  She rewards me with her smile more often than I deserve it.  Her smile is hard to resist.  I believe, a sincere smile is the first step to true understanding:  “I am not sure what you are saying, but I like you.”  Thanks to my baby, I smile more these days.

What have your kids taught you about learning?

Related posts:
8 ways to learn
Baby steps
Lessons learned

 

Gift guide

Have you done all of your gift shopping yet?  If not, here’s an idea.  In the spirit of this blog, I encourage you to give the gifts of learning.  After all, what is a better way to spend your money than on the improvement of Self and others.  The other day, I engaged in some daydreaming with Excitations – a website that offers gifts of experiences. You can browse those gifts by types of activities and geographical regions where they are available.

• What would your gift recipients like to learn about?  Maybe, they would be interested in a Wine Education Experience in San Francisco.    If you have friends in Philadelphia who are in the process of renovating their home, they may enjoy a Guided Design Center Experience.  You can also send your competitors to Swim with the Sharks.  It’s fun just to browse through all those experiences.  Maybe, you can put one or two on your own wishlist.
• How do your gift recipients prefer to learn?  Some may want to take the Best Seat in the House: Wine and Dine and see a celebrated chef prepare a five-course meal just for them. They will learn about pairing food and wine in the process, and the best part is that they get to enjoy the delicious dinner.  Do you know anybody who would want to tour Washington DC by Segway for Two?  A knowledgeable guide will help them to cruise along effortlessly. 
• Where would they want to have that extraordinary experience?  How about in the sky where they can try skydiving?  For the earth-bound, offer a Half Day Spa Rejuvenation.  Who wouldn’t want to get some rest from all these holidays?
• Perhaps, there is somebody out there who is an inspiration to your friends and whom they would like to meet as part of their gift experience.  Music lovers would like a Symphony Salon series where they can have a pre-concert chat with the musicians and creative directors of the critically acclaimed Riverside Symphony, attend a complimentary cheese-and-wine reception and enjoy the performance at Lincoln Center in New York City.  The lucky ones may get a chance to go interior home shopping in NYC with Designer Libby Langdon (you have to be some lawyer with money to give this experience).
• When?  Any time, not just the holidays. 

P.S.  Do you feel creative and want to design your own wrapping paper?  You can do it for free.

5 things you may not know about me

Legal Andrew tagged me for the meme that is going around the blogosphere. Now it’s my turn to reveal 5 things that you may not know about me.

1. I love learning foreign languages.  I speak English, Russian, Spanish, and I am successfully forgetting French and Italian.  What it means is that I need to visit France and Italy soon.
2. I met my dear husband through Latin ballroom dancing. I also met a bunch of great people in dancing classes, many are still my friends.  If you want to grow your social circle, I highly recommend Latin ballroom dancing.  Dancing was also my distraction form law school, and I credit it for preserving my sanity and a decent physical shape during those three years.
3. I taught English as a Second Language courses at the university all the way through law school. 
4. I remember one of my best friends for as long as I remember myself.  We were kids when we met.  We ended up studying linguistics at the same university and went on the same foreign exchange program just a year apart from each other.  She works in publishing. I guess, I am in self-publishing, if blogging counts.
5. For a few years, I worked right next to the Niagara Falls.  In the summer time, I would take my lunch, go to the park, find a  bench and listen to the water roaring next to me as I munched on my sandwich.   In the winter, it was cold, so I went there just a few times, but the view was incredible.  The clinging mist turned the banks of the river and falls into glaciers, and with the sun reflecting from the snow and ice, the landscape looked like another planet.  Not many tourists get to see this transformation.  I think any hurried lawyer would enjoy working next to the Niagara Falls: seeing this abundance of water go by puts everything into perspective.  Visit the Falls if you have a chance.

Now, if you have not been tagged yet and you are reading this post, I tag you.  Jump in!

What do cooking and learning have in common?

My cooking and learning mantras:

·        Cooking food is all about experimenting with different flavors, textures, aromas.  It appeals to various senses.  So should learning.  Our brain enjoys multisensory learning experiences.     

·        I cook primarily to have something to eat, but also to relax, and occasionally, to entertain and social