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NVC Resources on Happiness

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Listen to the Universe

Listen to the Universe is a fun group exercise to explore how we focus our attention and interpret what we experience. How it is played: Ask for a volunteer and ask them to leave the room. Brainstorm possible tasks for the volunteer while the volunteer is out of hearing distance. Start with a fairly easy task the first time. Ideas for easy tasks might include: taking someone's shoe off, picking...
NVC Mingle

NVC Mingle is a fun group exercise to practice NVC principles and create quick connections with others. Instructions: Ask everyone to walk around the room in a random pattern, with everyone chanting "Mingle, mingle, ming-GULL" (to a Latin rhythm). Blow the whistle, and tell them to form groups of 3's (or 4's, depending on group size). Name a topic (see below) for the group members to share with...
Losing Our Judgments

Trainer Tip Do not consider painful what is good for you. — Euripides Have you ever noticed how one minute something can seem so utterly painful you’re sure it must be bad, then, a short time later, the most amazing results happen, so then you think it’s good? This has happened to me countless times. Consider the time my car died when my finances were at an all-time low. That was bad, I...
Interdependence vs. Dependence/Independence

Trainer Tip "We cannot defend freedom abroad while deserting it at home" —Edward R. Murrow Interdependence, in a Nonviolent Communication process, assumes that each person is autonomous. It refers to a consciousness that values everyone’s needs equally, recognizes that all people have choices and are responsible for their actions, and focuses on abundance rather than scarcity. Autonomous people...
Keeping Ourselves Open

Trainer Tip Friend, there’s a window that opens from heart to heart And there are ways of closing it . . . —Rumi One of the swiftest ways to close the heart is critical or judgmental thinking. How open are you when you are judging another person? The goal in peaceful living is to approach our relationships with an open heart. Years ago, I asked another trainer of Nonviolent Communication to...
Control

I believe we’re seeing in the world the inevitable effects of the temptation for us humans to use our intelligence to control – Nature, people, groups, nations, ourselves — and control so easily slides into domination, oppression, and exploitation. It’s inevitable what happens in the paradigm of separation and materialism in which we live. Control makes us feel safe in an uncertain,...
10 Healthy Ways To Deal With Anger

There appears to be a lot of confusion about anger. Many people believe it is bad to get angry and/or that anger is something to be avoided at all costs. Anger has been viewed by many as a negative. This may be because we confuse unhealthy behavior (the result of what happens when anger is not dealt with in a healthy way) with the emotion. Anger is an emotion and it can be thought of as an...
The Relief of Authenticity

Trainer Tip The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere. —Anne Morrow Lindbergh Sometimes I hear people say that they don’t have the energy to be authentic, and that it is easier to ignore their truth to keep the peace. I understand this sentiment because I lived this way for many years. I thought it took less energy to censor myself, to go along with what other people wanted, and even...
Choosing Your Response

Trainer Tip If a man speaks or acts with pure thought, happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves him. —Buddha We have four choices of how to respond to someone, even when they say things that are hard to hear. If someone says to you, “You shouldn’t have done that, it was inappropriate,” consider your four options. The first one is to blame the speaker. “What do you know about what’s...
NVC as Spiritual Practice

Access this complete 4 session course This 4 session course recording offers practices while exploring the relationship between the core elements of NVC and universal spiritual principles. A primary template for the class is using the four NVC components of Observation, Feeling, Need, and Request to support meditative presence and awareness, in conjunction with four universal spiritual...