URI of Henderson County Hosts Course on Non-Violent Communication
February 23rd, 2006
Here’s a great idea for local CC work — the URI of Henderson County (North Carolina, USA) is hosting a course in Nonviolent Communication, a tool created by Marshall Rosenberg:
The purpose of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is to strengthen our ability to communicate from the heart and to connect with ourselves and others in a way that inspires compassion. NVC guides us to reframe how we express ourselves and hear others by focusing our consciousness on what we are observing, feeling, needing and requesting. As we learn how to hear ourselves and others in terms of feelings and needs we realize that everything anyone does is in order to meet needs. Through its emphasis on deep listening to ourselves as well as others, NVC fosters respect, attentiveness and empathy, and engenders a mutual desire to give from the heart.. The form is simple, yet powerfully transformative.
For twelve weeks every Sunday afternoon for two hours the URI of Henderson County (North Carolina, USA) hosted a course in Nonviolent Communication (NVC), a tool created by Marshall Rosenberg, Ph.D. He decided to create this tool to help people learn how to “do love” for the word “love” is found in all religions.
The purpose of NVC is to understand how to communicate with others by more effectively learning how to communicate with ourselves. NVC strengthens our ability to communicate from the heart and to connect with ourselves and others in a way that inspires compassion. NVC guides us to reframe how we express ourselves and hear others by focusing our consciousness on what we are observing, feeling, needing and requesting. It is from this deeper understanding of our own personal feelings and needs that we learn how to hear others in terms of feelings and needs.
“In eight years of offering educational programs to our community, with the desire to promote peace,” said Mary Page Sims, an active member of URI Henderson County, “this is by far the most powerful and, I think, enduring study.”
During the twelve training sessions, Rosenberg’s book, Practical Spiritually: Reflections On The Spiritual Basis Of Nonviolent Communication is used as well as twelve training videos – four basic, eight intermediate. During the sessions in Henderson County, a female member of the CC stated that she believes she could have saved her marriage if she had understood and been able to practice these skills.
“I found myself in tears,” said Mary Page Sims, “as I felt the truth in my life regarding such a statement. If the critical voice within separates you from the beauty of yourself,” Sims went on to say, “you are also separated from the Divine which is the source of your being. Rosenberg’s goal is to provide us with a tool that helps us connect with ourselves and one another in a compassionate way. When people can communicate need to need, compassion is inevitable. We realize that everything anyone does is only in order to meet certain needs, consciously or not. NVC teaches us to become more wholly aware of these needs.”
Through this emphasis on truly listening to ourselves and to others, NVC fosters respect, attentiveness, empathy and engenders a mutual desire to give from the heart. To understand oneself is to know one’s own needs. To understand another is to be compassionate towards theirs. The form is simple, yet powerfully transformative.
More information can be found at www.nonviolentcommunication.org