As a basic human need, empathy can be deeply healing, clarifying, restorative, and liberating, and help us create positive change both internally and externally.
Author: diankillian
Listening as a Radical Response to Scary Times
These are scary and uncertain times. What will emerge? We don't know yet. We are in the midst of a pandemic, waiting for an effective treatment and vaccine (or herd immunity). In the United States, the unemployment rate is more than 20% and is approaching the height of the Great Depression. More than 100,000 people … Continue reading Listening as a Radical Response to Scary Times
Choosing Partnership over Domination
Guest blog by Shona Cameron, Certified Trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication. I have recently revisited the work of Riane Esler and her view of humanity as being divided into two lenses through which we can view the world: Partnership: Life is interconnected and is a web of relatedness.Domination: Life is a pile with … Continue reading Choosing Partnership over Domination
Empathic Connection and Politics
Guest blog by John Kinyon, Certified Trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication and teacher of Empathy and Mindfulness As I write this, it is just a few days after the U.S. Senate acquitted Donald Trump of impeachment. It is no surprise to me that Trump proclaimed himself completely vindicated and exonerated of any misdeeds. … Continue reading Empathic Connection and Politics
The Positivity of NVC: Getting Positive about Observations (Part 4)
By practicing observations in NVC, we are retraining our brains and neural pathways by stating what we’re experiencing in a positive way and being proactive: sharing what we’re seeing and hearing (observations), how it lives in us (feelings), what we want on a core level (needs) and then what we desire on a strategy level (requests).
Putting NVC Principles to the Test while Petitioning in NYC
While petitioning in New York City to protect the critically endangered vaquita porpoise, I encountered many responses from people (ranging from very positive to very negative) and worked on my own reactions to remain out of judgment.
The Positivity of NVC: Requests (part 3)
Focusing on the positive by training our brains to listen for what we want (on a core level of needs) and then to ask for what we want (as opposed to what we don’t want) with a positive request leads to much better results than focusing on the negative.
The Positivity of NVC: Needs (part 2)
In my last blog post, "See Me Beautiful," I wrote about the “positivity” of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) on a philosophical level. Understanding this “positive” orientation of NVC is helpful on a practical level because once you “grok” this (get the concept and integrate it) it will give you more ease in practicing and living NVC … Continue reading The Positivity of NVC: Needs (part 2)
The Positivity of NVC: See Me Beautiful (part 1)
Lately, I have been fascinated with what I like to call the “positivity” of NVC. The more I think about this aspect, the more I see it as core to what I consider NVC’s “magic.” This “positivity” is what makes NVC powerful and transformative.
Training in Tenderness (Book Review)
Lately, I’ve been reading books that offer an intersection with the practice of NVC. One of these is Training in Tenderness: Buddhist Teachings on Tsewa, the Radical Openness of Heart That Can Change the World by Dzigar Kongtrul Rimpoche. (Listen to a podcast that I recorded about this book review here [27:22]) I Googled the word … Continue reading Training in Tenderness (Book Review)
