Challenge – The Needs’ Year (Week 35)
I stood on the top and looked down. It was so steep that I couldn’t see the end of the ski slope. For a couple of minutes I mustered up the courage and then I headed downhill. I zigzagged down at increasing speed. Suddenly, I fell over and landed on my back,...
Meaning – The Needs’ Year (Week 13)
A few years ago, I rented a working space with some other people for a while. Once a month I gave an introductory lecture to NVC. Each time there was a varied number of participants, sometimes as many as 20 people. At one occasion, only a single person came. After a...
Integrity – The Needs’ Year (Week 8)
“What are you doing? The finishing line is here!” Kay shouted and gestured which track I should take. I had just covered 40 km on cross-country skis, but instead of crossing the finishing line, I took an extra lap in the stadium. The ski race went three laps and...
To matter – The Needs’ Year (Week 6)
We are in the entry hall in our apartment in Järna, south of Stockholm. My partner is lying on an ambulance stretcher and is supported by our midwife to give birth to our son. In the background are two ambulance drivers waiting. The birth started so fast that we never...
Rest – The Needs’ Year (Week 3)
Rain and exhaustion “Fucking hell!” I had just got my third flat tyre in less than 24 hours. It was raining and I sought shelter under a pedestrian bridge along the river Schelde just outside Gent, Belgium. I was soaking wet and even though it was not so...
Community – The Needs’ Year (Week 2)
My life in community “Who in the collective house would you most like to eat?” We were sitting around one of the tables in the dining hall engaged in a conversation. We stuck to the adult community members and most of us chose one of the young women from...
Introduction to needs
Intro In this blog post, I will mainly reflect on needs from the perspective of us humans. My thoughts about needs are based on my understanding of what Marshall B. Rosenberg – the founder of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) – has written about needs....
How to change a habitual way of communicating?
As you are reading this article, I guess that you want to, just like me, develop your ability to listen to others, to cooperate, to express what is important to you – simply to create connection with people. Almost no matter what we are interested in in life,...