Empathy in a Difficult and Dangerous World

Giraffe speech helps us to connect

Empathy means to stand in another person's shoes, i.e. to see things from their perspective. 

EMPATHY is at the heart of Nonviolent Communication (NVC).  In an NVC context, empathy means to connect with feelings and needs - our own and other people's.

In order to be able to connect with someone else in an empathetic way, we first need to have empathy for ourselves.  

In NVC, empathetic speech is called "giraffe speech".  This is speech which helps us to connect with others and with our own experience. 

With all the violence and conflict all over the world, there has never been a greater need for NVC skills.  NVC helps us to connect using language - to connect with other people's needs and to express our own.

Empathy can be, and has been, used in many situations, including those involving extreme violence.

I am sure you have experienced empathy - either using it yourself or receiving it from someone else, or both.  I encourage you to blog about your experience of empathy in your home, with your family, at your workplace, or in any other situation.

Please post your blog post to the Blogging Carnival for Nonviolence 2019.  Go here for details.

Go here to read the blogs from 2018. 

Go here for the 2019 blogs. 

We look forward to hearing from you!

Go here for short films about the basics of Nonviolent Communication (NVC).

Go here for a short film about NVC and parenting.

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