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Sometimes I think perhaps a bit too much in terms of my own experience. I like to think I'm not completely alone in that....[??]

New territory becomes part of mainstream society with the thanks of many different courageous leaders.

Explorers scout the territory. They climb through the valleys and jungles. Sometimes they tell others about the wonderful places they've been and seen.

Trailblazers go into the jungle with their machetes and clear a path through the tangled vines. They fall in quicksand and muck out the swamps. The Explorers are off in new territory.

[Editor's Note: This was posted on the ADR Prof Blog and I thought it deserved a broader audience so I asked the author, Professor Andrea Schneider for permission to reprint it.]

"Vocation is where your deep gladness meets the world's deep need." ~Frederich Buechner

A recent thread on the CollabLaw listServe had me revisiting this topic. One professional had asked for help with a divorce case in which one of the spouses had requested, in the middle of the process, that the attorneys and mhps stop giving the financial professional any information about his/her "emotional state". One post suggested there might be more to do than simply decide whether it's "okay" or not to stop sharing....that there might be something going on for that client and that it might be helpful to ask him/her about it. I added the following thoughts:

This is my first blog for the year. It is summer Downunder and I enjoyed a nice holiday. But that is a fading memory and the reality of work has returned. And so has the need to keep up with my blog entries. In coming entries I plan to review some of the latest publications relating to therapeutic jurisprudence. Here is my first effort:

People enmeshed in divorce tend to think that they should hire the most aggressive divorce attorney they can afford. Some lawyers market themselves to respond to such values and this impulse. They advertise their practices as "aggressive advocates" or "aggressive divorce lawyers" "or "aggressive family law advocates."

If you look at their websites they often also describe themselves as offering "compassionate representation" or "charitable divorce help." Which is it? Having it both ways is unlikely.

One of the cornerstone skills of a lawyer is supposed to be the ability to compartmentalize one's inner world. To set aside personal feelings and beliefs and work completely and only rationally on a client's matters.

A few weeks ago I conducted a mediation involving a post divorce matter. The husband owned his own business and had done quite well. The wife had some employment, however, she had obviously fallen on difficult times and the child originally living with her had gone to the husband's custody.

The emotional benefits of mindfulness in divorce will not only save and protect you, they may resonant far into the future and save and protect everyone with whom you come in contact - including not just your children (the best reason), but everyone else you meet.

Relationships arise and they disintegrate, just like birth and decay. It would be wonderful if no one divorced, but it would be better if we could all be more mindful when we marry in the first place.

Or remarry for that matter.