South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog

I have followed Jon Katz's discussions on his blog about applying T'ai Chi to the practice of law and, although I don't practice T'ai Chi, I have learned from his experience and I'm grateful that he is writing about it. Jon has combined many of his posts into a complete article that he submitted to his state criminal defense lawyer's association newsletter, and published on his blog:

An essential ingredient to reaching calm is to overcome one’s fears. T’ai chi master Cheng Man Ch’ing spoke of tempering our fears in terms of imagining that we are practicing t'ai chi while balanced atop a narrow pointed cliff. To not eliminate one's fears while atop the cliff is to guarantee certain death. Eliminating fear also calls for keeping and tempering the fearlessness of a child filled with wonder and living in the moment, as detailed in the Zen story of the man and the two tigers: A man is chased in the wilderness by two tigers, only to be forced off a cliff, hanging for life from a vine. One tiger waits above and the other waits below for a human meal. Two field mice gnaw away at the vine. The man sees a wild strawberry growing from the side of a cliff, reaches for it, tastes it, and -- with his life hanging in the balance -- thinks of how delicious the strawberry tastes.

This power of being in the moment -- and finding and savoring the nearby wild strawberries during even the most trying times –- has no substitute. Ironically, those who welcome battling in the eye of the storm have the best opportunity to reach a state of calm. Nothing tests one’s ability to reach calm more than the most dangerous situations.

For any practicing attorney, I recommend reading his entire article. Just remembering this idea of "remaining calm in the eye of the storm" has helped me more than once while in trial or when preparing for trial with the pressures of the office around me. Thank you Jon.