By Anthony Murgatroyd, Murgatroyd Law Group, L.L.C.
When faced with a stressful situation such as a trial or deposition, or even when you receive a phone call from a hostile adversary, consider taking some time to practice mindfulness in one or more of the following ways:
- Pay attention to your breathing. Is it fast, slow, comfortable? If you sense you are stressed, take a few moments to practice diaphragmatic (deep lower stomach) breathing. This allows you to regulate and bring your breathing to a comfortable level.
- Consider what you’re hearing. Close your eyes and verbally describe the sounds you hear, including your own internal noisy chatter. Identify the thoughts going through your head.
- Identify the impact. Mentally scan each body part, and identify where the stress has settled in. The process can have a calming effect and take your mind off the negative thoughts and feelings.
- Know your triggers. Try to identify the trigger areas in your environment. These are locations or events where you are prone to experience adverse physical and mental reactions, such as the office phone, the mail bin, or the car. I put a sticker of an owl and a “STOPP” card in these areas. STOPP stands for Stop, Take a breath, Pull back for some perspective, and Proceed. When I see a call come in on the caller ID from a dreaded adversary, or I detect a motion for summary judgment in the mail, or I’m sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, the owl and STOPP card remind me to take a moment to pause, breathe in and out, and notice the emotions I am experiencing at the moment. Taking the time to pause and reflect like this gives me the space to reduce my reactivity and re-wire myself for a new and better response.
- Labeling the thought. A perfect example of this is a moment where you are experiencing anger. By labeling the emotion, you can divorce yourself from it by simply thinking, “there’s another angry thought again.” Additionally, I sometimes find it helpful to visualize the word “anger” hovering above me on a cloud and floating away until it disappears.