Nonviolent communication or NVC is a model of communication developed by Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D,a student of Carl Rogers, and has been taught all over the world for the past thirty years. Rosenberg’s book “Nonviolent Communication:A Language of Life”has revolutionized the way people can hold onto their own needs and those of others simultaneously, resolving conflicts faster and more harmoniously. This method provides us with understanding and tools to foster clearer communication with ourselves and those important to us. It helps reduce blame and judgment, and facilitates asking for exactly what we want from others.
Common communication problems:
- Communication misunderstandings often arise when we add interpretations and judgments to what we observe. This is totally unconscious, but it often creates defensiveness and resentment.
- We blame others for our feelings instead of being clear about our own feelings and needs in a situation.
- We make demands of others instead of requests.
NVC tools can provide:
- Greater empathy and compassion for your own hopes and needs and for those you wish to communicate with.
- More space to see that understanding someone does not necessarily mean agreeing with them.
- Skills to make requests and create clear expectations that hold your own intentions and needs sacred while simultaneously honoring needs and intentions of others.
- Skills to be real, not nice.