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NVC Resources on Exercises and Practices

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Extreme Gratitude

Trainer Tip I like to practice extreme gratitude. When I am in resistance to what is happening in my life, when I'm having a very difficult time enjoying, or just being with what is occurring, I like to offer up my gratitude. Giving thanks during the challenging times helps me remember that within every moment is an opportunity to bring love into the world. Keywords: presence gratitude healing...
Using Therapeutic Communication to Connect with Patients

Often patients need enough emotional space to reduce any inner stuckness in their situation. They need to do this before they can adequately absorb information or effectively take next steps. Empathy can help with this. Empathy requires an intention to connect non-judgmentally. This gets better with practice. Read on for examples of how a situation can play out with, and without, empathy. And...
The Power of Gratitude

Listen to Jim and Jori ask each other about the role of gratitude in their daily activities as they share how gratitude can be a primary tool to help us stay present and at peace. Jim and Jori discuss the interplay of gratitiude with NVC practice by applying gratitude as a strategy for living. Keywords: consciousness empathy feelings needs presence self empathy compassion connection gratitude...
Let it RAIN!

In Let It Rain, Jim Manske delves into the distinction between needs and strategies, highlighting how addictive thinking can lead to suffering and alienation in relationships. He introduces the RAIN method—Recognize, Accept, Insight, Need—as a powerful practice to identify and transform destructive thought patterns, fostering connection and well-being. By cultivating self-compassion and...
The Zero Step

“Know what you want before you open your mouth.” -Marshall Rosenberg, developer of Nonviolent Communication The Story of the Zero Step Shortly after meeting Marshall Rosenberg in November of 2000, Jori and I started attending the Community NVC Practice Group in Albuquerque. One member of the group, Mel Schneider, offered the group a lesson he called “The Zero Step”. Mel started the presentation...
The Nuts and Bolts of Not Taking Things Personally

Why is it so difficult to not take things personally? It's because everything reinforces the sense that whatever is being said is indeed about us – both from without and from within. However, we can get better at not taking things personally with a practice of shifting our focus by being open to multiple interpretations, understanding that our reaction is about our own need, and noticing how...
3 Strategies for Working With Worry

When you follow your worry to the underlying universal need, you can check in with that need and discern wise action. To get there, we can try out prayer, wishes, savoring the need, or compassionate witnessing. If you are noticing and naming the aspects of worry continuously, the compassionate witnessing practice will interrupt the habitual spinning of worry-filled stories. There are at least...
As Things Get Worse

As we head towards impending collapse the relative ease, comfort and freedom of the global north will be harder to maintain. Because of growing anxiety including from people with systemic power, we can anticipate increasing attempts at authoritarian control over the population. We can see what's occurring now as dry run practice for what's coming soon. What may help us: finding choice, knowing...
Setting Intentions with Attention

Kristin Masters explores how to approach goal-setting and self-reflection with compassion and mindfulness grounded in NVC principles. Kristin encourages you to examine how conscious choice plays a role in how we treat ourselves and others. By shifting away from judgment and self-criticism, and instead embracing the NVC practice of meeting our intentions with empathy, we can foster deeper...
How To Find Your Center Instead of Defending

Notice when you start to defend. Is your body tensing up? Feeling desperate for the other to understand you or your intentions? Find yourself explaining your behavior, giving all the good reasons why you did what you did? Trying to convince the other of your good intentions? If so, ask yourself: “Is this what I want to be doing right now? Is this really helping?” then practice one of these...