The Law Library’s Mindfulness and Mental Wellness in Law School guide has been newly updated and upgraded to help you succeed even in the most stressful circumstances your studies have to offer.
One new library title featured in the guide is Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It (Ethan Kross, 2021).
This book illustrates how Introspection is not always a good thing. Author Ethan Kross discusses how reflection can help us learn valuable lessons, but can also poison our thinking when our inner critic takes up too much of our mental bandwidth.
Negative self-chatter can rob us of our comfort—the mental anguish can often manifest as physical pain—and the confidence that we need to succeed. It can lead us to overthink situations and provoke us into ineffective or even ridiculous responses when we are stressed or scared.
Of course, talking to ourselves and listening to what our inner voice has to say is not always a bad thing. And the author, an experimental psychologist and neuroscientist at the University of Michigan, has suggestions to help you tap into the good that your inner voice has to offer without indulging its tendency to rip you down over and over.
Taking certain actions, even looking at particular photos or using particular placebos, can give your inner voice a more helpful outlook. These actions include:
- Mentally distancing ourselves from our problems so they appear external and manageable rather than overwhelming.
- Using second person pronouns or our proper names to refer to ourselves to cultivate this benefit.
- Talking in a healthy way to others, being aware of the traps of negative thinking that might also develop if we’re not careful.
- Detaching from the notions that we are the center of the world, and look toward bigger things to remind us to stay humble and healthy.
Read this slim, sub-200 page book for additional insights into cultivating a healthier inner voice. In addition, check out this new content on the Mindfulness and Mental Wellness in Law School guide:
- Video guided meditations
New videos help students release tension from their bodies and otherwise wind down from the stress of law school. Features tips on setting up a regular meditation practice, including how to avoid falling asleep while relaxing with your eyes closed. Guided meditations, many more of which can be found (for free) on the Mindfulness guide, are the best way to start.
- Updated text resources
New articles on mindfulness and meditation include instructions on meditation while walking. Mindfulness can also build useful skills for law practice in addition to stress relief and self-compassion. And, with some lawyers and law students being averse to mindfulness techniques, a new article discusses other ways to relieve stress, such as managing to-do lists and analyzing the sources of stress to disarm them.
For additional resources on mindfulness or any legal research topic, make an appointment to Meet with a Librarian!
