Nonviolent communication theory tells us that human beings enjoy contributing to each other. It's a nice idea -- I know it's true. So why do my requests frequently not "land"? I hear "later" or maybe "If that's the way you feel about it...", I feel discouraged and may even find myself in a fight.
Our Baltimore group meets one Sunday a month for an NVC workshop and practice. To help orient "newbies" we usually spend about half an hour focusing on NVC principles. It's no surprise to "oldies" that this adds depth to our understanding too. In November we will review the NVC basics of making a request.
In the second half of our workshop we will take a request that hasn't worked for us and use self-empathy to connect with our needs. We'll look at the two types of request, action and connecting. And then we'll craft the memnoon (Arabic) or mitzvah (Hebrew), the request that blesses the one who is asked.
If there's time, we'll practice "hearing no", just in case...
For more information, please contact Barbra shiatsuacupuncture [at] verizon [dot] net or Hope at lifeworks [at] earthlink [dot] net. (Click dots to expose full email addresses.) The phone number for Barbra is 410.360.3534 and for Hope is 410 486 6086 .