Monday, May 29, 2006

Marshall training at Findhorn!

Marshall Rosenberg, author of Nonviolent Communication: A Language of the Heart and several other books, arrived in Findhorn in Scotland recently to offer NVC training to a group of about 150 folks from 23 countries. Findhorn is offering extensive daily reports on the training. If you would enjoy learning more, click on http://www.findhorn.org/content/nonvio/archives/000662.php

Saturday, May 27, 2006

UPDATE ON ONLINE PRACTICE GROUP

Greetings, Friends,

I feel excited to report that the Radical Compassion online practice group is taking form as I work out the details of a variety of strategies. Read on for some ways you can choose to participate! I'm hopeful this group will meet needs for connection, learning and community.

INTERACTIVE POSSIBILITIES

One way to begin is to read my two websites: http://connectionnow.blogspot.com/
and http://radicalcompassion.squarespace.com/ (or whatever parts of those that you enjoy reading!)

I would enjoy it if you would respond with comments to any portions of those offerings that move you.

Also, you can listen to my first offerings on the Vaestro Audio Forum if you have computer speakers/headphones.

If you have a microphone, you can respond and interact with one another as well. Its kind of like audio email. Very cool!

First step there is to sign up (free) online at Vaestro.com http://vaestro.com/mail
The Radical Compassion forum is http://vaestro.com/viewforum-84

Please let me know if you have any problems with any of these pieces!

LIVE PRACTICE GROUP COMPONENT

I'd like you to consider signing up for a skype.com account (also free). This will allow us to talk together in real time in a free conference call.

Skype is a way to talk to others using your computer. You need a computer, an internet connection and a microphone and speakers/headphones. Most computers come with them built in. Once the software is installed, using Skype is as easy as making a phone call.

To get connected via Skype, first download the software for your PC. Follow this link and choose the software written for your computer:
http://skype.com/download/

There is a "how to guide" to help you with the next steps @ http://skype.com/help/guides/howtoskype/

Secondly, when you have done this, I'd like it if you send me your send me your Skype id. This will enable us to communicate in real time via Skype.

(As an added bonus, all Skype users can make free long distance calls using Skype throughout the US and Canada until the end of 2006. Skype to Skype calls are always free anywhere in the world!)

The third step is to let me know your preference for our first meeting. Please send three possible "windows" of time. (For example, Wednesday evening, 6-8 pm PDT)

I'm envisioning a 2 hour "call" via skype where we can begin to connect "in person" and "live". If possible, please translate your request into Pacific Daylight Time (UTC -7).

In a few days I intend to announce our first meeting after receiving your requests.

REQUEST FOR FEEDBACK

As this is an experimental group, your feedback is vital to me. Throughout your participation, I would enjoy hearing about what works about the online practice group and any problems that arise (either technical issues or any other needs of your that are unmet.)

I am hopeful that together we can all refine this idea into an effective strategy to make NVC available easily to anyone with an internet connection!


I am offering this group as a gift, although I remain open to receiving your support. If you would like to donate to the online practice group, you can do so via paypal @ http://radicalcompassion.squarespace.com Simply click the "make a donation button" and follow the instructions. I'm grateful for your support of my sustainability!

Warmly,
Jim

Friday, May 26, 2006

NVC in Chinese Prisons!

I received the following from my colleague, Liz Gay in Singapore:

Dear Friends

I am delighted to share the content of an email sent to me by a
contact in China.

Yinhua writes:

"Tony Trepasso and his wife in Yunnan have presented NVC inside
prison. The first event a few weeks ago was for 1800 inmates and
staff at a prison in Yunnan.

It was filmed by CCTV and when I asked when it will be broadcast, I
just got the following from Tony

The CCTV1 program will be aired on May 22nd. I'm not sure of the time
but will let you know when I find out. We did another presentation at
the Kunming womens prison. There were over 4000 prisoners this time
and it went very well, tears and laughter from everyone, quite
amazing!"


I have already written back to Yinhua to ask if he can put me in touch
Tony Trepasso, whose name is unfamiliar to me.

Meanwhile, if any member of this list knows anything more about these
activities, I will be delighted to make an enormous song and dance
about them in front of people I know who make decisions about training
activities in Singaporean prisons!

Warmest regards meanwhile

Liz Gay
Singapore

PS. Yinhua, who is working on a translation of Marshall's book,
NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION: A LANGUAGE OF LIFE into Mandarin, considers
it unlikely he will be granted a travel visa that would allow him to
join our Leader-full Gathering in Queensland, Australia this coming
September. Anyone with information that might help us to get around
this is most welcome to contact me via liz@nvcinbusiness.com.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

By the end of the IIT will NVC be "second nature" to me in my daily connections with other humans?

Question: Dear Jim, I'm still thinking about attending the upcoming IIT in Albuquerque. Here's my problem. I'm still unsure that I'll walk away from this training with any higher level of skill than I have now. Can you, or anyone you know, give me an assurance that by the end of the training NVC will be "second nature" to me in my daily connections with other humans?

Signed:
Unsure

Dear Unsure,

I hear your hesitation and need for reassurance that somehow the IIT will really give you the tools, skills and consciousness to make the kind of difference you would enjoy making in the world. I'm guessing that by "second nature" you're wanting NVC to become more of a "default" or automatic response, is that right?

Can I guarantee that? No. Because the responsibility for integrating NVC remains yours. We can only offer the context within which you can experience NVC consciousness. The IIT is designed to support others in living in a consciousness of needs. For me, integration is a life-time project characterized by remembering and forgetting, then forgiving myself for forgetting-and that's remembering!

I can say that the IIT is the best laboratory I currently know for learning to live in NVC Consciousness. I'm guessing that over the course of the 9 days, you will go through a roller coaster ride of feelings and needs ranging from exhilaration to despair. Some moments you will think, "NVC is IT! I'm so glad I decided to do this. I really feel that I'm getting it." Other moments will be characterized by depressing thoughts like, "I'll never get this. I just don't seem to have the capacity." Or perhaps you may feel angry, telling yourself, "Marshall and the trainers are just bull shit artists making up stuff as they go. They don't understand what its like in the real world." And a million variations on these themes. Of course, all of these things you tell yourself are clues about the state of your needs on a moment-to-moment basis.

And that's the (potential) "magic" of the IIT and NVC in general: to become focused, more and more, on Life, on feelings and needs, on the joy of contribution and the power of stimulating that joy in others. On dismantling the domination structures inside our own heads that paint an untrue picture of us as PPPPPPT (piss poor protoplasm poorly put together).
The IIT is also an opportunity to move from the first level of integration of NVC, intellectual understanding, and move into a conscious experience of the choice we have in each moment to create the world we want to live in, characterized by self-connection, relationships built upon a foundation of empathy and honesty, and the hard work of reorganizing social systems to reflect a connection to Life and meeting basic human needs.

I wonder if this helps?

Warmly

Jim

Thursday, May 11, 2006

05/11/2006

Press release from: Alliance for Sustainability

Press release from: Alliance for Sustainability

Request for Nominations for Second Annual Sustainability Awards


(CSRwire) MINNEAPOLIS – The Alliance for Sustainability is requesting nominations for the Second Annual Sustainability Awards to be given at a Gala Celebration at the Historic Fitzgerald Theatre, home of Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion, in St. Paul, Minnesota on Monday evening, September 25, 2006.

“The Second Annual Sustainability Awards and Symposium provide the opportunity to recognize individuals, organizations and communities that have been exemplary leaders and made significant contributions to sustainability—creating a world that is ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just and humane,” said Alliance for Sustainability President and Event Co-Chair Terry Gips.

A distinguished Awards Advisory Board will review the nominations and make recommendations to the Alliance Board which will announce the recipients on World Environment Day, June 5.

“Our previous recipients demonstrate the impressive diversity of sustainability,” said event Co-Chair Dawn Erlandson. “We hope people will consider nominating their favorite heroes and sheroes.”

Previous recipients inspiring author Frances Moore Lappé, artist Peter Max, Aveda Corporation Founder Horst Rechelbacher, Native-American activist Winona LaDuke, Seventh Generation Corporation, musician Larry Long, Minnesota Sustainable Community Network, University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston, the Green Institute and The Intervale.

Nominations may be submitted by Friday, May 19 by any individual, organization or community (including self-nominations) at www.afors.org. Nominees can address any aspect(s) of sustainability, including Food, Agriculture, Business, Labor, Government, Nonprofit, Community, Media, Arts, Culture, Philanthropy, Education, Academia, Faith/Spirituality, Health, Design, Planning, Architecture, Environmental Justice and Law.

Recipients will be expected to attend the award ceremonies and the half-day Sustainability Symposium held the next morning. All costs for travel, food and lodging will be covered.

Sponsors of the Awards and the Sustainability Symposium the following morning include Utne Magazine, Aveda Corporation, Seventh Generation, Piper Jaffray, CSRwire, E – The Environmental Magazine, Gift Works by Mission Research, Mal Warwick Associates, Ayurceutics, Eureka Recycling, Portfolio 21, Indigenous Designs, Jedlicka Design, Baltix Furniture, Rancho La Puerta Spa, Dolphin Blue, Progressive Asset Management, Gegax Family Foundation, University Bank, and Sustainability Associates. Additional sponsors are welcome.

The Alliance for Sustainability was founded in 1983 and has been one of the original proponents of sustainability, developing a widely used four-part definition. Its mission is to bring about personal, organizational and planetary sustainability. It has partnered with diverse business, government and non-profit groups to create the CERES Principles, Living Green Expo, and Congregations Caring for Creation, as well as numerous public policies. It offers trainings on Sustainability and the Natural Step Framework and has an e-newsletter Manna, website www.afors.org, numerous publications, a Sustainability Resource Center, and an excellent internship program.

For more information or a free membership, contact Event Coordinator Karen Engelsen at the Alliance for Sustainability, In the Hillel Center at the University of Minnesota, 1521 University Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414; 612-331-1099, karen@afors.org, www.afors.org

In the Hillel Center, University of Minnesota, 1521 University Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414

612-331-1099

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Launching Radical Compassion: Online Practice Group

Greetings Friends,

I am entering a new chapter in my life. In a few days, I'm heading to Atlanta for a wedding and a workshop. Then, soon thereafter, I head back to Albuquerque to organize and train at the Albuquerque IIT. Right now I intend to return to LA until early July. When I return, we will continue our series on Radical Compassion and I will also contribute to others wishing to form practice groups in the LA area.

In the meantime, I am launching 2 new web-based projects to support folks in integrating NVC. I am experimenting with an "online practice group" composed of three elements:

1. A new website: Radical Compassion http://radicalcompassion.squarespace.com/welcome/
2. An interactive Podcast, also called Radical Compassion http://vaestro.com/viewforum-84
3. My ongoing blog, Connecting With Compassion http://connectionnow.blogspot.com/

I hope you participate! And I'd love to hear your feedback!

Warmly,

Jim

Monday, May 08, 2006

Well-Being as a Predictor of Health
A new public health initiative in Scotland



I subscribe to a google service that snatches headlines from keywords and sends me links to stories. One of the keywords I enjoy watching is "well-being". I discovered this article today and send it along to inspire you to move toward creating the world you want to live in. http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/61521.html

If you enjoy connecting through stories like this, would you be willing to subscribe to my blog? I'd love to create community and connection there. Simply enter your email address here on the lefthand side of the page. I have no intention of sharing your email with anyone else.

Stay tuned for the launching of a new online practice group via my Vaestro channel, http://vaestro.com/viewforum-84

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Greetings, friends,

What is alive in you, right now, as you receive this blog? What feelings are stimulated? What are those feelings telling you about the state of your needs?

And, having connected with yourself, right now, what would make your life more wonderful? What needs would you enjoy meeting?

If you're continuing to read, I'm hopeful that you will meet needs for information, learning and connection!

INFORMATION: The best source for updated NVC information continues to be cnvc.org

LEARNING: I received the following in my inbox from (I)An-ok and I wanted to make the list of resources available to you:

An NVC video that BayNVC put out: http://baynvc.org/video.php

Marshall Rosenberg interview video: http://www.big-picture.tv/index.php?id=17&cat=&a=24

Marshall Rosenberg mp3s: http://www.cnvc.org/sbytes.htm

Miki Kashtan radio show archives: http://baynvc.org/new_announcement_details.php?announcement_id=14

Free NVC telephone class first Thursday of every month: http://www.growingcompassion.org/moreinfoclass.php?classid=152

Free NVC telephone weekly practice group every Wednesday: http://www.growingcompassion.org/moreinfoclass.php?classid=142


And a couple of additions that I enjoy:
Peace Talks with Marshall: http://www.goodradioshows.org/peaceTalksL36.html

Changing Your World Through What You Say with Marshall Rosenberg: http://www.newdimensions.org/dimensions/MBRosenberg032806.ram

Preview Marshall's new CD based course: http://store.yahoo.com/soundstruestore/hh01022d.html

CONNECTION: In order to integrate NVC Consciousness, we need a supportive community. How would you like to get involved? Would you like to start your own practice group? If so, please write to me and I will help you get one going in your community!

Warmly,

Jim Manske
nvctrainer@gmail.com