Non Violent Communication in a Violent Age
Several of those involved in TCL received sponsorship to take part in a two-day NVC Training Course recently. This was held by Sarah Ludford at the excellent space of Halton Mill. NVC was developed by Marshall Rosenberg, who you can see on the video with this post, explaining his work for peace in refugee camps and violent hot-spots throughout the world
To say our course with Sarah was a highpoint of the year for all those who took part is no exaggeration because, by the end of it, we were all feeling high on the energy that communicating in a Non Violent way left us with!
Not that Transition members are violent people – quite the contrary – most of us are peace loving, compassionate folk who are trying to do our bit to make the world a better place. Yet, what we learned from Sarah, made us all realize how often we can tend to communicate with others without listening to the other person’s needs first.
It is so easy to talk over people when you’re feeling passionate about something. It’s also pretty common for us all to use language that is accusatory or intending to punish. Others respond to that by defending themselves and attacking us back. Yet this doesn’t help anyone. We forget that we need to listen behind the language that people use in order to feel what they feel and be able to act appropriately to help them.
Quite often we can act with righteous indignation, if we’re not careful, and walk all over someone else’s grass, without even being aware that we have done so. There’s also the possibility that we simply pay far too much attention to what is going on in our own heads without giving space to what is happening in someone else’s.
NVC is a well developed and widely practiced set of techniques for becoming better at really getting to the heart of what is happening with others so that we can give what they need rather than what we think they should have. All those who attended the course with Sarah considered it time well spent and went away wanting to put these techniques into practice. Especially with their work involved with others within the Transition movement.
If you would like to put your name down for a future TCL sponsored Introductory Course with Sarah please contact us and state NVC Training within your message.
