by Crawford Coates | Nov 16, 2023 | Blogs
I don’t know where Thich Nhat Hanh said this (he said a lot) but it struck me hard: The greatest gift we can give our loved ones is non-fear. The quote was read before I heading into meditation. I was able to think about it and also not think about it. After, I...
by Crawford Coates | Jul 6, 2023 | Blogs
There has long been criticism of mindfulness for distracting from the actual work of improving the so-called system. American mindfulness, it is argued, puts the onus on the individual for what are more generally political and systemic failures. It is, they say, a...
by Crawford Coates | Mar 2, 2023 | Blogs
The study of situational awareness began in aviation and spread quickly to other fields, including public safety. It’s common nowadays to hear law enforcement, EMS, fire-rescue, and 911 personnel, as well as the vendors that serve them, talk about enhancing...
by Crawford Coates | Jan 5, 2023 | Blogs
Another year lost to the proverbial waste bin of time and I couldn’t be happier. Not because I’m bitter, and certainly not that I am a ball-drop-and-champagne kind of person. Not because I’m particularly reflective, either. It’s simply a nice reminder of the reality...
by Crawford Coates | Oct 7, 2022 | Blogs
I wrote an article about the term mindfulness a while back because it seems to cause some confusion. My friend George Ryan, who teaches meditation to LAPD special teams officers, doesn’t like the term. “I don’t want your mind to be full,” he...
by Crawford Coates | Oct 6, 2022 | Blogs
Nobody knows for sure rates of substance abuse among American first responders. Psychologist Ellen Kirschman and epidemiologist John Violanti–two of my heroes–have been looking at this for decades now. According to Kirschman, law enforcement officers...
