Over the past 35 years, Marshall Rosenberg has been resolving conflicts in families, schools, businesses, and governments in 30 countries on five continents. On this five-hour presentation on 5 CDs, he gives an adaptation of his book Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life. He looks at the origins of nonviolent communication (NVC) and the ideal of living in harmony with our values. Applications of his four step-process of observing, feeling, needing, and requesting have been made in all walks of life from daily personal interactions to serious political confrontations in hotspots around the world. Bringing NVC to life in any situation means that we must come up against established and culturally conditioned patterns of judging, criticizing, labeling, and alienating others with our words.
Rosenberg does us an inestimable service by helping us understand the literacy of feelings and needs. It takes great patience to listen to our own and others' emotions and yearnings. We were also impressed with how clearly Rosenberg lays out the supreme value of empathy as being fully present with another person. It has healing power and is a means of defusing violence. Empathy practice engenders a desire to give from the heart and to find common ground. The author also has some cogent things to say about anger and the techniques for expressing it. Rosenberg also offers insights into NVC and psychotherapy, celebrating life through gratitude, and the difference between protective and punitive force. This audio learning package makes a good case for NVC as the language of the heart.
