Nonviolent Communication

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) by Marshall B. Rosenberg proposes a very practical and concrete model, a specific way to express oneself honestly, and to listen to others with a certain quality of presence and curiosity that increases the likelihood that an empathic connection occur. NVC is also (and most significantly, according to us) a specific model, a vision, of what we human beings are.

The philosophical outlook on human beings that underpins the communication model of NVC is very different from the one we believe most of us were born and educated into. In our opinion, most of us in most cultures were taught how to behave to be considered “good boys” and “good girls”. According to us, this has mostly, in most parts of the world, and in much of our history, been achieved using leverages such as sense of duty, guilt, fear of punishment and hope for rewards. The underlying idea in such visions is that human beings are inherently evil, and need to be controlled so as to behave in a way that protects society and our common welfare. In such societies, I see the corresponding language to be one of moralistic judgements about what is right/wrong, good/bad, beautiful/ugly. It is a static language that attempts to care for needs of security, reliability, stability, predictability.

NVC suggests we look at a different vision, and it considers that human beings do all they do to satisfy universal human needs. What we call “needs” in NVC refers to the life power within each and everyone of us. It is needs who are there to support life.

In relation to needs being satisfied or unsatisfied, we all human beings have emotions, feelings arising. In order to meet those needs, we choose strategies to satisfy needs. While strategies may differ greatly, feelings and needs are universal.

In this section of our site, in addition to introducing ourselves as trainers, we delve into the theoretical aspects of Nonviolent Communication, or Empathic Communication, NVC in short, provide some links to some resources, in Italian and English, and provide up-to-date information on the trainings we offer.

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