Living Peacefully Blog
What Are You Choosing to Bring Into the New Year?
Welcome to 2021! I’m celebrating the possibilities of this New Year and I hope you are too. Just this afternoon, I led a group of NVC enthusiasts from around the world in a 20-minute meditation to welcome in peace and healing to all living beings. It was utterly...
Taking Deep Breaths
As I sit down to write this, I find I am struggling with what to say. I notice that I feel both deeply weary and humbled to realize that this is the last month of 2020… I usually take time to reflect on the passing year in December, and begin to shape my plans for the...
Embracing Humility, Finding Freedom
This past weekend, my wife, Kim, and I went to a friend’s house. I confess it has been hard for me to access JOY these past few months, for reasons I suspect are affecting many of us, so this particular visit with friends was a welcome respite. At one point, I was...
Self Care: Courage in the Midst of Life
I have been taking time to read books lately, which is a kind of luxury I sometimes neglect despite how nurturing reading can be for me. In a moment of extreme stress and tension, I picked up two books that are reminding me of courage, self-care, authenticity, how...
Supporting Hearts that Hurt
Welcome to the first day of August. I am acutely aware of how much our lives have changed since August 2019 – or even just since January 2020! In the USA, my home state of California has taken a huge step backward as we try to curb the upward spiral of COVID-19 cases;...
What Do You Value?
Years ago, Marshall Rosenberg said, “Anger can be a wonderful wake up call to help you understand what you need and what you value.” I have been sitting with this phrase during these devastating months of 2020, pondering what it is that each of us needs and values,...
Looking for the Blessings
As I write this, I am looking out my office window into my new yard and garden. A garden that was planted by parents of a friend of ours. Yesterday I ate the first tomato that they had so lovingly planted and nurtured. The birds are singing and I see many butterflies...
NVC Resources for Times of Crisis: Navigate, Rethink, and Transform
We at the NVC Academy are holding you so tenderly in our hearts these days… Each of us is deeply aware that you and other members of our beloved community may need additional support during the coming months… I want to invite you to count on us: we are here for you....
Radical Acceptance: Not Minding What Happens
Whoosh! That’s how the effects of Covid-19 feel to me right now. I am in the midst of a flurry of activity: canceling in-person courses and retreats while simultaneously helping NVC trainers from across the world to expand their online training – all in an effort to...
Self-Empathy: Healing from the Inside Out
Developing a consistent Self-empathy practice is the single most healing thing I’ve ever done for myself. It has allowed me to heal old, negative beliefs that used to sabotage my ability to enjoy intimate and loving relationships, and to uncover and express the...