I've long been a fan of Amanda Palmer and her band the Dresden Dolls (if you don't know her mix of cabaret-punk music, check out Coin Operated Boy which says a lot in three minutes about human longing.) About two years ago Amanda gave a TED talk on The Art of Asking and now has a … Continue reading True Love: Open Hearted Giving and Receiving
NVC
NVC: Focused On the Sunny Side of the Street
Years before Positive Psychology became the movement that it is today, Marshall Rosenberg, who developed the NVC model, already had discovered that focusing on the positive--what actually is happening (rather than what's "wrong") and what we do want (rather than what we don't or shouldn't want) is far more effective in creating the changes we … Continue reading NVC: Focused On the Sunny Side of the Street
Listening–When It’s Hard to Hear
What do you do when you're triggered? And when others are triggered too? At trainings and in coaching sessions, I am often asked this question. It seems one of the main reasons people learn NVC: to know how to respond in challenging situations with more choice (by better self-connecting and hearing others), with care and consideration … Continue reading Listening–When It’s Hard to Hear
The NVC Model: A Map to Your Intentions
When coaching clients or leading trainings about Collaborative Communication (NVC), I like to point out that the practice involves two aspects: the skill set---focused on four basic steps, and what I call the mindset---the consciousness or awareness---that informs those steps: our desire--for harmony, understanding, collaboration, or greater connection. If you're practicing OFNR by rote---going through "observations, … Continue reading The NVC Model: A Map to Your Intentions
Embracing the Body: Learning Compassion as a “Felt-Sense”
Think back to when you were five. What do you remember learning? I bet it's hard to recall a specific fact or statistic. Yet I bet anything you learned with your body -- riding a bicycle, swimming, playing an instrument, or jumping rope, for example -- you probably still remember and know how to … Continue reading Embracing the Body: Learning Compassion as a “Felt-Sense”
Hearing the Other Side
A friend just sent me an amusing parody of a cat and his diary entries. From the cat's perspective, of course, actions we take as humans can look very different from how they may seem to a cat. The black sweater removed from the sofa, for example, where the cat was sleeping, in this parody … Continue reading Hearing the Other Side
