Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Greetings, friends,

When I realize its been a month since my last post, I feel a sense of amazement, wondering, where does the time go?

I can answer that it proceeds one moment at a time. And my moments have been remarkably full.

After a Thanksgiving trip to Jacksonville to visit family, I took a sudden detour to Atlanta to support my parents during a health crisis. I ended up spending about a month there. I feel happy to report that the crisis has passed and that everyone is enjoying some well-being right now.

Just before Christmas, I returned to Albuquerque to enjoy the holidays with family and friends. I also worked there to prepare for Marshall Rosenberg's first Special Session in the United States. From January 9th through the 23rd, 33 people from 8 countries, 15 states and 3 Canadian provinces gathered at the Spiritual Renewal Center in Albuquerque to explore Social Change using Nonviolent Communication. I feel especially gratified about the work done to prepare for a project in the African country of Burundi.

We returned to LA in late January so that Jori could attend to her work at CNVC. In the background, I began preparing for our next Albuquerque training event, an International Intensive Training that begins on February 14. We also took a weekend trip last Friday to Oklahoma City where we were delighted to help a community of new NVC practitioners begin to integrate Nonviolent Communication. We greeted about sixty folks for a free Friday evening introduction and spent the rest of the weekend with about 40 people immersed in learning NVC. Remembering our time there now, I feel warm and hopeful about how the community there lived the process of NVC with us.

Now we are back in LA for a couple of more days before heading back to Albuquerque for the rest of the month. After the IIT there, the Leadership Team of CNVC will gather to consider strategies to continue the work of the Center for Nonviolent Communication.

In March, we are looking forward to training events in the LA area and in Salt Lake City.

Finally, I wanted you to be aware of this article about NVC from Columbia, Missiouri. It features an interview with NVC trainer Miki Kashtan: http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/Feb/20070202Feat003.asp

Monday, January 08, 2007

I recently stumbled upon this gem...

Empathy

Empathy, a value upon which is based all the educational methods on peace and non-violence is the key to comprehending what others experience. According to the Chinese philosopher Tchouang-Tseu, real empathy exists when one listens with one’s entire being. “To listen through hearing is one thing. To listen intellectually is another. But to listen with the mind is not limited to the sole faculties of hearing or intellectual comprehension. It requires a state of vacuity of all faculties. When this state is reached, the entire being can then listen attentively. One then succeeds to grasp directly what is essential to us, that which can never be heard with the ear or understood by the mind.”

From: http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=4617&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html