Miscellaneous

How To Think Clearly Under Pressure

Posted on November 12, 2009
About a week ago, I was at a seminar conducted by David Rock, the author of the recently published book "Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long." It was an engaging...

Meditate NYC : Free Meditation Instruction at Open Houses Throughout NYC, November 9 ? 15

Posted on November 05, 2009
Meditate NYC begins on Sunday, November 8 with an afternoon of meditation instruction by Buddhist teachers from a great variety of traditions. The event is free and open to all. Meditate NYC's kick-off will be followed by a full week...

The stressful way to happiness

Posted on October 29, 2009
If learning a new skill is stressful for you, don't despair. According to a new study, people who work hard at improving their competence at something may feel stressed in the moment, but experience greater happiness on a daily basis...

New Legal Resource : Laws.com (Guest Post)

Posted on October 28, 2009
There are thousands of laws in the legislation of the United States. Understanding every single law is an impossibility, especially for the general public. In reality, legal information is one of the most complicated topics in the entire world. Fortunately,...

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How to deal with difficult people, rejections, and negative opinions of others

Posted on October 12, 2009
How do you deal with difficult people? Are you bothered by conflicts, rejections, or negative opinions of others? Most of us are. Somehow, it's hard to stay detached and let go. Some of us spend much time reflecting on past...

Recharge Your Brain - Brain Minute Video

Posted on October 07, 2009

Negative subliminal images are better detected than positive messages

Posted on September 29, 2009
According to Wikipedia, "[a] subliminal message is a signal or message embedded in another medium, designed to pass below the normal limits of the human mind's perception. These messages are unrecognizable by the conscious mind, but in certain situations can...

Visual Attention Guides Perception and Quiets Background Noise

Posted on September 23, 2009
In the article "Attention Makes Sensory Signals Stand Out Amidst Background Noise," ScienceDaily reports on a new mechanism that explains how our brain is able to process and make sense of various details in our environment that our visual system...

Fortune Cookie

Posted on September 17, 2009
Laugh at annoyances, Smile at provocations, Breathe through the frenzy, Be grateful for all life lessons.

If you want to improve focus, ask these two questions

Posted on September 10, 2009
"What we call thinking is also a process whereby psychic energy gets ordered. Emotions focus attention by mobilizing the entire organism in an approach or an avoidance mode. Goals do it by providing images of desired outcomes. Thoughts order attention...

TED Talk: Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation

Posted on September 01, 2009
Daniel Pink, the author of "A Whole New Mind" and the upcoming book "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" gave a thought-provoking talk about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation at TED conference. Current research indicates that extrinsic rewards may...

The best smell for your brain: the science of olfaction and emotion

Posted on August 20, 2009
What comes to mind if I ask you to imagine that you are at the following places: a bakery, a candle store, a hospital, a rose garden, a perfume counter? One of your associations is likely to be the sensation...

How to maximize brain power

Posted on August 14, 2009
"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...

"Mandala: The Perfect Circle" Program at Rubin Museum Of Art

Posted on August 12, 2009
Rubin Museum of Art in New York City will soon host "Mandala: The Perfect Circle" - a series of events dedicated to the mandala: The mandala, one of Himalayan Buddhism's most ubiquitous symbols, is created as an artistic aid for...

States of consciousness: Who would you be without your beliefs and positions?

Posted on August 10, 2009
Who would you be without your beliefs and positions? This is the questions explored in the article "Evolving Consciousness" by Kaisa Puhakka in the current issue of Shift. It discusses how we settle into our beliefs and what it takes...

Brain Minute: On Nature and Your Brain (Video)

Posted on July 31, 2009
Related post: "How the city hurts your brain" by Jonah Lehrer

How Nature Can Improve Brain Function - Brain Minute Video

Posted on July 31, 2009
Related post: "How the city hurts your brain" by Jonah Lehrer

When your loss is your brain's win

Posted on July 23, 2009
Have you ever bought a lottery ticket or at least, been tempted to buy one? Your rational mind understands that the odds of winning are slim, but that tingling of hope inside says, "Somebody inevitably wins. What if it's me...

Guest Post by Kat Sanders: 5 Reasons to Adopt Technology in Law Firms

Posted on July 17, 2009
This article is written by Kat Sanders, who regularly blogs on the topic of court reporter school online at her blog Court Reporter Schools. She welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: katsanders25@gmail.com. Technology is relatively a baby...

Yawn, smile, and simplify

Posted on July 02, 2009
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." ~ Leonardo da Vinci I was reading my Sunday paper last weekend and saw a cartoon depicting two birds sitting on a wire. They were watching the third bird that was about to fall down...

"Welcome to the Future: Time for Law School 4.0"

Posted on June 23, 2009
What would the law school of the future look like? Paul Lippe shares his insights in the article "Welcome to the Future: Time for Law School 4.0" in The AmLaw Daily. He discusses the challenges of the current system of...

25 Tools: A Toolbox for Learning Professionals 2009 by Jane Hart

Posted on June 22, 2009
Jane Hart, the founder of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies, created this excellent presentation of the most popular learning tools in 25 categories, as selected by learning professionals worldwide. 25 Tools: A Toolbox for Learning Professionals 2009 View...

"THE IMPENDING DEMISE OF THE UNIVERSITY" By Don Tapscott

Posted on June 14, 2009
In his thought-provoking Edge piece "The Impending Demise of the University," Don Tapscott explores that future of learning and the function of universities in a networked society: Universities are finally losing their monopoly on higher learning, as the web inexorably...

People in a Good Mood See More

Posted on June 03, 2009
When we are in a positive mood, our visual cortex takes in more information, while negative moods result in tunnel vision, according to a recent University of Toronto study. In my previous post on "Positivity," I wrote about Barbara Fredrickson's...

Want to be a better problem-solver in your dreams?

Posted on May 29, 2009
"Ideas twinkle in dreams like bicycle lights in a mist." - Michael Michalko, "Thinkertoys" Have you ever been caught daydreaming or doodling in class, during a lecture or at a business meeting? While others could interpret it as a sign...

Body Movements Can Influence Problem Solving

Posted on May 19, 2009
Directed movements of the body can, outside of conscious awareness, guide higher-order cognitive processing, according to a new study, conduced by University of Illinois psychology professor Alejandro Lleras with Vanderbilt University postdoctoral researcher Laura Thomas...

Life Metaphors: An Exercise in Creative Thinking

Posted on May 07, 2009
Life can feel like a roller coaster - the highs and the lows, the fear and the exhilaration - all coming in rapid succession. Life can also be like an airplane - always self-correcting to stay on course. To Albert...

Hear Frank Felberbaum On Memory Development And Brain-Power Performance

Posted on April 21, 2009
[UPDATE] Yesterday, I had the pleasure of interviewing Frank Felberbaum, the memory expert and author of "The Business of Memory: How to Maximize Your Brain Power and Fast Track Your Career," with Rachel Kranz. Frank Felberbaum is president of Memory...

Hear Frank Felberbaum On Memory Development And Brain-Power Performance

Posted on April 14, 2009
On Monday, April 20th at 1pm ET, I'll be interviewing Frank Felberbaum, president of Memory Training Systems, memory expert and author of "The Business of Memory: How to Maximize Your Brain Power and Fast Track Your Career," with Rachel Kranz....

Mind illusions and portion control

Posted on April 02, 2009
"Habits are basic and foundational aspects of our mental lives. Without habit, there is no calculation, no speech, no thought, no recognition, no game playing. Only a creature with habits like ours could have anything like a mind like ours....

Music as medication

Posted on March 30, 2009
Music can entertain, shift our mood, relieve stress, promote cognitive development, make us better at recognizing emotion in sound, and now scientists search for evidence that music can heal, according to The New York Times article "Composing Concertos in the...

Don't turn off your brain when receiving advice from a financial expert

Posted on March 26, 2009
A recent study into the neural mechanisms through which external information, such as professional advice, is integrated into financial decision making may shed light on how Bernard Madoff was able to deceive so many people. ScienceDaily reports: A study using...

"What Is Love?"

Posted on March 24, 2009
Sally Kempton wrote a beautiful piece titled "What Is Love?" for Yoga Journal. Here's an excerpt on the practice of love: The practice of love?actions and attitudes that create an atmosphere of kindness, acceptance, and unity in ourselves and in...

Brain Awareness Week

Posted on March 18, 2009
March 16 ? March 22 is Brain Awareness Week. Here are some interesting resources I like to use to raise my brain awareness: The Dana Foundation is a gateway to lots of brain information on the web. Your Brain at...

Barbara Fredrickson and Sharon Salzberg on "Positivity"

Posted on March 13, 2009
Last Sunday, I attended the discussion between neuro-psychologist Barbara Fredrickson and meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg as part of the Brainwave series at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. The topic was how positive thinking influenced the mind...

Watch your reactions: a Zen parable

Posted on March 12, 2009
I came across this Zen parable in the Yoga Journal article "Living on the Edge" by Ezra Bayda: On the first day of a four-day meditation retreat, a student went in to see the Zen master with whom he'd been...

The Complete Lawyer: Focus on Coaching and Mentoring

Posted on March 03, 2009

Brainwave at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City

Posted on February 25, 2009
Between February 21 and April 23, 2009, The Rubin Museum of Art will host its second annual Brainwave, which "explores the intersection of mind and matter with nearly fifty different events, including discussions with some of the world's premier artists...

My interview for LawBound

Posted on February 18, 2009
I recently did an interview for Julia Hays of LawBound, "a blog for students and those in the workworld considering a career or education in the field of law." It is about my "journey from Russia to the United States...

Skies on fire

Posted on February 12, 2009
The sunset is near. With all the wind we are having today, the skies look ablaze. I had to take a picture.

Your Ultimate Mind-Body Makeover teleclass tonight

Posted on February 10, 2009
Our Ultimate Mind-Body Makeover team hears it all the time here -- "Things are crazy." "I am so insecure I keep eating." Tonight, our three coaches are offering a freebie call on new technologies of human performance enhancement to help...

Learning to learn from Joshua Waitzkin, a champion in chess and martial arts

Posted on February 05, 2009
SharpBrains offers a thought-provoking interview with Joshua Waitzkin, a champion in chess and martial arts and the author of "The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance." A passionate learner, Waitzkin fuses philosophy, psychology, meditation with his personal...

The practice of joy and happiness

Posted on January 21, 2009
Do you notice the stories you are telling yourself? How do they make you feel and act? Do they leave you inspired, joyful, clear, and confident? Or do they generate negativity, doubt, or resistance? Many of us take whatever our...

Krishnamurti on education

Posted on January 14, 2009
I came across this quotation today from Krishnamurti's "The Function of Education" in Think on These Things and felt compelled to share: "Surely, education has no meaning unless it helps you to understand the vast expanse of life with all...

Learn a language in 2009 and improve your brain

Posted on January 07, 2009
As a linguist by training, I have always liked learning new languages. In fact, English is not my native language, Russian is. I started truly learning English when I was in high school and added a few more languages later...

"How the city hurts your brain" by Jonah Lehrer

Posted on January 03, 2009
Jonah Lehrer, the author of "How We Decide," discusses the perils and benefits of city life as they relate to the brain in his article "How the city hurts your brain ...And what you can do about it" in The...

A Happy New Year!

Posted on December 31, 2008
People tend to underestimate how strong, resilient and resourceful they are. Trust yourself to be your Best in 2009.Happy holidays! I wish all of you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009!

Love of Education: A Shifting Paradigm - for LeWeb08 by Robin Good (Video)

Posted on December 29, 2008
This is the video of the "Love of Education" presentation delivered by Robin Good at LeWeb in Paris. I am off to create my list of things I need to learn in 2009. What's on your list?

5 Tips to Help Busy Professional Manage Stress and Be More Productive

Posted on December 22, 2008
This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of massage careers. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com.Our world is a busy one to say the least. This is why we must find...

De-Stress Kit For the Changing Times

Posted on December 20, 2008
Doc Childre, founder of HeartMath, a leading stress research institute, has written a free booklet De-Stress Kit for the Changing Times that provides a few simple practices to help people intercept and manage stress during this period of challenge and...

Kinesthetic Intelligence: Learning through Dance

Posted on December 15, 2008
Many cultures value dance as a form of non-verbal communication. What can we learn through dance? Is it possible to use dance for self-improvement to gain deeper knowledge of ourselves as we dance or others as we watch their performance?...

Tim Brown: "The powerful link between creativity and play" (TED VIdeo)

Posted on December 10, 2008
Tim Brown, the CEO of the "innovation and design" firm Ideo, talks about the relationship between creative thinking and play at the 2008 Serious Play conference.

Emotional improv for interpersonal intelligence

Posted on December 04, 2008
I am a big fan of the the Thiagi Gameletter. If you are in the learning business, you should definitely check it out. Their mission is to "increase and improve the use of interactive, experiential strategies to improve human performance...

Release stress and weight these holidays...

Posted on December 01, 2008
We are launching a community-based free half-hour program, hosted by Sue Stebbins, Master Coach and clinical hypnotherapist, starting the second of December at 12:30 Eastern Time to GIVE People struggling with Stress and Weight and Isolation a BREAK -- want...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted on November 26, 2008
"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures." -Thornton Wilder

The Girl Effect (Video)

Posted on November 24, 2008
http://www.girleffect.org

"The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety"

Posted on November 07, 2008
Researchers at the University at Albany ? SUNY are looking for participants in an online research study. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of a new self-help workbook for people who are suffering from anxiety-related problems....

Meditate NYC

Posted on November 06, 2008
If you happen to be in the New York City area, you have an opportunity to explore meditation through a series of free events, workshops and meditation open houses that will take place around New York City from Sunday, November...

VOTE!

Posted on November 04, 2008
Election Protection To report an elections/voting problem, contact Election Protection Coalition at 1-866-OUR-VOTE or 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA. You can also tweet them at http://twitter.com/866OURVOTE.

Mindfulness in Movement

Posted on October 24, 2008
If you want to bring more mindfulness into your daily life, consider matching your mindfulness practices to your dominant intelligences. According to the theory of multiple intelligences developed by Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University, and discussed...

Integrative Productivity Teleclass

Posted on October 21, 2008
Are you familiar with the term "situational awareness"? It is often used in the industries in which information flows fast and decisions lead to serious consequences, for example, in the military or air traffic control. In the marital arts, this...

Awareness practices for multiple intelligences

Posted on October 14, 2008
How do you stay centered when the waves of life come crashing against you? It's not easy. We all know how hard it is not to get caught up in a negative whirlpool when we feel threatened, attacked or snubbed....

Strategies to build resilience to stress

Posted on October 08, 2008
The Texas Medical Association offers ten strategies to build resilience to stress: 1. Make connections 2. Avoid seeing crises as insurmountable problems 3. Accept that change is part of living 4. Move toward your goals 5. Take decisive actions 6....

I am on Twitter

Posted on October 02, 2008
I finally joined the Twitter community. You can follow me at http://twitter.com/Lawsagna. As I am learning about Twitter, I thought I?d share a few links I found useful:"How Twitter Can Help at Work" by Sarah Milstein in the Shifting Careers...

Fortune Cookie

Posted on September 30, 2008
Things are never as good or as bad as they seem.

"Connecticut Lemon Law Gives Consumers a Choice" by Sergei Lemberg

Posted on September 26, 2008
Sergei Lemberg, a Connecticut lemon law attorney, is sitting in the guest blogger?s chair today. Connecticut was the first state in the nation to enact a lemon law that gives consumers recourse when they?ve discovered they?ve purchased a defective vehicle...

Personal productivity and mind body connection

Posted on September 23, 2008
In our fast-paced world, maintaining focused energy is one of the biggest personal productivity challenges. Much of the energy drain happens due to the sense of mental overwhelm and frequent information overload. This sense of overwhelm and inability to cope...

Working/Learning Carnival

Posted on September 15, 2008
Michele Martin of The Bamboo Project Blog is hosting the September edition of the Working/Learning Carnival today. The topic is how to stay motivated for learning. Check it out. You can find the information about the Working/Learning Carnival and its...

Orientation Series: 21 Steps to Becoming a Better Learner Step 21: Inspired Learning

Posted on September 14, 2008
Learning seems to be more on people's minds in September because kids go back to school. My daughter, Alexis, who is 2.5 years old went to her playschool for the first time last week. She wasn't very happy at first...

Dancing around the world (video)

Posted on September 12, 2008
A friend sent me the link to this video. It made me smile. Are you ready to dance? Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Constructive thinking during meditation

Posted on September 09, 2008
Many people find it difficult to quiet their minds when they meditate. Some erroneously assume that they are supposed to eliminate thinking altogether. The article "Thoughts on Thinking" by Edward Espe Brown, a Zen priest and author, offers tips on...

The Complete Lawyer focuses on "The Brave New World Of Associates"

Posted on September 05, 2008
The current issue of The Compete Lawyer is dedicated to associates. There are plenty of insightful offerings from professional development to lifestyle to productivity and networking, so check it out.

"Q-tools: An approach for discovery and knowledge work" by Dave Gray

Posted on September 02, 2008
In the world of rapid information flow, asking the right questions is often more important than knowing the answers. Dave Gray offers an interesting paradigm of questions to help us process information: A prism is a question that divides information....

My video of positive affirmations

Posted on August 28, 2008
How selective are you when it comes to the images that appear in front of your eyes, sounds that you hear, words that you use? What we feed to our senses affects our perceptions, emotions, and vibrations. We don?t always...

"Pursue the Passion" interviews attorney Lonnie Williams Jr.

Posted on August 15, 2008
In this post last year, I wrote about Pursue the Passion and their project "to interview passionate professionals about their career paths." They recently interviewed attorney Lonnie Williams Jr. about his dream and his path to become a prominent lawyer...

Meditation Retreat for Law Professionals and Students

Posted on August 11, 2008
The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society is offering Meditation Retreat for Law Professionals and Students on September 11-14, 2008 at Menla Mountain Center, Phoenicia, NY: Mindfulness meditation can provide a practical tool for busy legal professionals to quiet the...

Wordle

Posted on August 08, 2008
This is a visual representation of Lawsagna created in Wordle. Worlde is an application that creates word clouds from text that you provide. You can enter text, submit a URL of your blog, or a del.icio.us user name to see...

Personal Energy Management Teleclass

Posted on July 28, 2008
You are motivated, ambitious, hardworking, and at the same time, you often feel overworked, overscheduled, overwhelmed. If this rings true, join me on August 5, 9:00pm ET for my free 1-hour tele-coaching class on mind/body approaches to personal energy management...

Interview with Cheryl Stephens, the author of ?Plain Language Legal Writing?

Posted on July 23, 2008
I wonder sometimes how much time and energy we waste on creating and reading legal texts that are hard to understand. It is a sad situation that many people expect legal documents to be incomprehensible. Cheryl Stephens is set to...

Bar exam review

Posted on July 15, 2008
For July bar exam takers, here's a round-up of my earlier posts to help you prepare: How to take exams with the champion?s mindset Memory techniques 8 times smarter : learning with multiple intelligences Getting ready for the bar exam...

Using multiple intelligences for health and wellness

Posted on July 08, 2008
Yesterday, I led a session on bridging the gap between information and transformation at ?My Ultimate Mind-Body Makeover? event organized by Master Coach, NLP Practitioner and Audio Author Sue Stebbins, the founder of Successwaves. We discussed the topic of information...

If you want to increase your intelligence, train your working memory

Posted on May 20, 2008
If you want to sharpen your mental ability to solve new problems outside your area of expertise, you should train your working memory, according to The New York Times article ?Memory Training Shown to Turn Up Brainpower? by Nicholas Bakalar....

Top 10 Tools for Learning

Posted on March 25, 2008
Jane Hart at the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies is compiling the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008 list by asking learning professionals to contribute their lists of top 10 favorite tools for learning. If you want to know...

Spring Equinox

Posted on March 20, 2008
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...

TimeLeft for time management

Posted on March 07, 2008
TimeLeft is a multipurpose time-management tool that can notify you of an upcoming event, count down till your next scheduled study or work break, measure time interval and signal its end, even track online auctions. The program can can also...

"The Opposable Mind" by Roger L. Martin

Posted on March 04, 2008
If you like to think about how you think, you may want to read Tim Milburn?s review of "The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking" by Roger L. Martin. The book discusses the concept of integrative thinking:...

Orientation Series: 21 Steps to Becoming a Better Learner

Posted on February 28, 2008
Step 20:  Learning to learn What distinguishes best lawyers, doctors, architects, etc. from the rest of the crowd?  What do they know or do that others don't?  One possibility is that they are very proficient in using certain meta-skills that can be applied to multiple tasks and contexts and supercharge whatever these experts do...

Free places to learn

Posted on February 26, 2008
I am just back from browsing courses at MIT OpenCourseWare. There, you can access more than 1800 courses in different disciplines of the MIT curriculum free of charge. Titles range from How to Develop "Breakthrough" Products and Services to Neural Basis of Learning and Memory to Expository Writing - Food for Thought: Writing and Reading about Food and Culture...

What I learned in my first week of the raw food diet

Posted on February 21, 2008
It's been about a week and a half now since I started my 30-day raw food program.  I view it as a learning experience.  Instead of focusing on limitations, temptations and frustrations, I choose to think of this experience in terms of explorations, discoveries and learning opportunities...

"Taking Play Seriously"

Posted on February 19, 2008
The New York Time Magazine?s article "Taking Play Seriously" by Robin Marantz Henig offers interesting perspectives on the nature and function of play:    Armed with research grounded in evolutionary biology and experimental neuroscience, some scientists have shown themselves eager ? at times perhaps a little too eager ? to promote a scientific argument for play...

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

Posted on February 14, 2008
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...

Orientation Series: 21 Steps to Becoming a Better Learner

Posted on February 11, 2008
Step 19:  Learning holistically When we think of learning, we often focus on cognitive functions and memory.  But learning doesn?t happen just in our heads.  I think there's a benefit in looking at learning from the holistic perspective that involves body, mind, and spirit (I am talking about human spirit here)...

Mind on a Diet

Posted on February 05, 2008
"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 DasThis is the season when many people talk about losing a few pounds here and there...

Go Red for Women

Posted on February 01, 2008
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...

A website where mentors and mentees meet

Posted on January 30, 2008
iMantri is a new social networking site for people who offer and seek mentoring:"Whether you want to be a mentor or a mentee, iMantri allows you evaluate your competencies, help find a suitable mentoring match, provides a framework and facilitates mentoring interactions...

Cognitive Fitness

Posted on January 29, 2008
From "Cognitive Fitness" by Roderick Gilkey and Clint Kilts, Harvard Business Review (need subscription, you can preview the summary of the article on the order page):?advances in neuroscience suggest that there is no reason why your brain at 60 can?t be as competent as it was at 25...

Bar exam tips round-up

Posted on January 25, 2008
For February bar exam takers, here's a round-up of my earlier posts to help you study: How to take exams with the champion?s mindset Memory techniques 8 times smarter : learning with multiple intelligences Getting ready for the bar exam More bar exam tips How to create memorable flashcards Tip bit #21: Change the word On stress and memory 8 bar exam preparation myths busted Mnemonics to remember the future estates Best diet before a test Tip Bit #29: Run away from panic Achieve sustainable personal efficiency!

VizThink Conference '08

Posted on January 24, 2008
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...

Deepak Chopra on: Releasing Emotion Toxins (Video)

Posted on January 23, 2008
"How do you release emotional toxins? Deepak details the seven steps to releasing emotional toxicity, which include: 1. Take responsibility for your emotions. 2. Witness the emotions in your body. 3. Define it: is it anger, fear? 4. Express it: write down what is happening...

Smart Dinner

Posted on January 18, 2008
Here?s a suggestion from "The Dinner Choice That Thwarts Alzheimer?s" at RealAge:Recipe for a sharp mind: chop some mango, jalapeno, and cilantro; toss together with lime juice, salt, and pepper; then spoon generously over grilled fish.The combo of fatty acids from the fish and antioxidants from the fresh fruit helps protect the brain from dementia...

"Year-End Review" with Michael Melcher

Posted on January 17, 2008
Author/lawyer/career coach Michael Melcher offered a "year-end review" exercise to the readers of Shifting Careers to help them set goals that would naturally support their development over the past year.  That post generated over 80 comments and a follow-up post...

?Innovate Like Edison? Podcast from Theater of the Mind

Posted on January 16, 2008
If you are interested in creative thinking, you may want to check out the podcast ?Innovate Like Edison? from Theater of the Mind.  In this podcast, Kelly Howell, founder of Brain Sync, interviews Michael Gelb, the author of ?How to Think like Leonardo DaVinci:  Seven Steps to Genius Every Day,? about his latest book "Innovate Like Edison: The Success System of America's Greatest Inventor" co-authored with Sarah Miller Caldicott, the great grand niece of Thomas Edison:"This show discusses how you can use the creative principles of Thomas Edison to bring your ideas into reality...

Blawg Review #142: Letter to New Lawyer

Posted on January 14, 2008
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.

Professor Matthew Bodie looks into the future of the casebook

Posted on January 11, 2008
What would a law school casebook of the future look like?  Professor Matthew Bodie?s article "The Future of the Casebook: An Argument for an Open-Source Approach," published in the Journal of Legal Studies, discusses the possibilities for creating a digital casebook as an open-source project...

What?s your theme?

Posted on January 10, 2008
I am trying something new this year.  I actually have a theme for 2008.  My theme is learning to get out of my comfort zone.  Here are my reasons for creating a new year?s theme: Focus.  Maintaining just one theme throughout the year will help me stay focused and hopefully, make better progress...

My wellness mindset newsletter

Posted on January 08, 2008
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...

Orientation Series: 21 Steps to Becoming a Better Learner

Posted on January 04, 2008
Step 18:  Establishing rhythms, rituals, and routines As you set a direction for your learning with the help of learning goals, you also want to consider establishing rhythms, rituals, and routines to support your learning process.  Rhythms Most things we do in life have a rhythm...

Happy New Year!

Posted on January 01, 2008
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...

12 Days of ...

Posted on December 19, 2007
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...

Creative thinking in conflict resolution

Posted on December 17, 2007
I like thinking frameworks.  Even though they sound restrictive, I?ve found that in fact, they often help to generate more innovative ideas than the free-form brainstorming.  In his article ?The Joke Model of Creative Thinking? at Mediate.com, John Cooley shows how the structure and formulas used to create a joke can be applied in conflict resolution:  It is the quality and the timing of the punchline that comprise the creative act and speeds the joke to a satisfying resolution...

Lawyer Depression

Posted on December 14, 2007
ABA Journal discusses lawyer depression in the article ?Lawyer Depression Comes Out of the Closet? by Debra Cassens Weiss:About 19 percent of lawyers experience depression at any given time, compared with 6.7 percent of the general population. About 20 percent of lawyers have drinking problems, twice the rate of the general population...

Orientation Series: 21 Steps to Becoming a Better Learner

Posted on December 11, 2007
Step 17:  Becoming a reflective learner Reflective learners are better at learning because they regularly look for opportunities to improve the learning process.  They are also likely to use their new knowledge more effectively and purposefully...

Fortune Cookie

Posted on December 10, 2007
Claim your best life now!

How attitudes towards intelligence affect the ability to learn

Posted on December 05, 2007
How we think about our intelligence influences our success as learners.  In her article ?The Secret to Raising Smart Kids? in the current issue of Scientific American Mind, Carol S. Dweck, Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and the author of ?Mindset:  The New Psychology of Success,? describes two kinds of attitude towards intelligence that affect kids? performance in school:  the ?growth mind-set? and the ?fixed mind-set...

Understanding your personal energy patterns

Posted on December 03, 2007
If you are like many overworked and overwhelmed people I know, you probably experience the lack of energy more often that you?d like.  I want to offer you an exercise to help you understand your energy flow better.  Here?s what you do: Take a piece of paper and divide it into two columns...

Career advice from Steve Pavlina

Posted on November 30, 2007
Steve Pavlina is writing a series of articles on career development that you may want to check out.  Below are just a few excerpts, but please take time to read the articles in full, they will make you think. From How to Create a Fulfilling Career:When you succeed in creating a fulfilling career, it will be uniquely you...

Orientation Series: 21 Steps to Becoming a Better Learner

Posted on November 28, 2007
Step 16:  Memorizing Even in this day and age when a lot of information is at your fingertips, memorization is still an essential component of learning.  We just have to remember certain things, there is no way around it.  The memory acts like a glue allowing us to put various pieces of information together and transform them into usable knowledge...

Gearing up for work after holidays

Posted on November 26, 2007
As I am emerging from my turkey-induced coma, I think about the ways to ease the transition back into the world of work and productivity.  Here are a few things that seem to help me: Schedule some thinking and planning time before you start the work...

150 Resources to Help You Write Better from OEDb

Posted on November 19, 2007
Online Education Database has a list of  ?150 Resources to Help You Write Better, Faster, and More Persuasively.?  The list is organized according to the following categories:  Almanacs, Business and Legal Matters, Citation Styles, Dictionaries, English Language Skills, Genres, News Digests, New Media Resources, Organization, Professional Organizations, Rhetoric, Toolboxes, Writing Services, Writing Skills, Writing Software...