Archive for the ‘Collaborative Law’ Category

How hard is it to deal with the stresses and strains of family transition? Being a strong, centered parent in the midst of divorce or separation is difficult. You want to make good decisions for your children, and for your life. But there are challenges and distractions right now. In my experience, taking a little time for self-nurturing is critical. Steal some time for you! Take care of yourself. You know how when you’re receiving the safety instructions prior to take off, the flight attendant reminds you to put the oxygen mask on yourself first? To really “be there” for your family, you have to be there for yourself. Anna Malick, the pop singer, had it right with her song: “Just Breathe”. So, do it!

While driving to an appointment the other day, I turned on my car radio and  stumbled into  the middle of an NPR piece on neighborhoods. I didn’t catch the whole segment. But I did hear a man talk about how tight his neighborhood was – how everybody watched out for everyone else, paid extra attention to a house when the owners were on vacation, and so on. In essence, it appeared the  residents in his block treated each other like  extensions of their own families.

I live in a wonderful neighborhood, a beautiful mix of young and old, families and retirees – and  a varied blend of different cultures. We all take care of  each other, pick up the mail and newspapers when someone is out of town, visit each other in the street, and get concerned when there is news of an illness. Last winter presented many opportunities for clearing snow from the driveways of those unable to do so themselves.  For many years my wife and I hosted an annual neighborhood pot luck. We wanted to acknowledge the importance of community, our community of neighbors and friends.

Isn’t this the way it should be everywhere? Working together collaboratively and cooperatively to meet the needs and interests of each other. Helping, caring, loving, living in peace  in the spirit of a vibrant world community.

This is an article written by Mark Weiss, a collaborative colleague (http://www.mark-weiss.com/). Mark does a great job of addressing the myths, questions and concerns that often come up with respect to collaborative law and ethics.