NVC Paradoxes
When one perspective limits what we see I first came across Nonviolent Communication more than twenty years ago. At the time, I found a way of understanding human beings, both others and myself, that made a lot of sense to me. Instead of dividing people and actions...
Human Beings Enjoy Giving, When It Is Their Own Choice to Give
Human Beings Enjoy Giving – But to Whom? “Human beings enjoy giving, when it is their own choice to give”. This is one of the assumptions of Nonviolent Communication that I find both beautiful and challenging. Beautiful, because it points towards something many...
Level of Needs
How Our Relationship to Needs Evolves How is it that we can share the same universal human needs, yet experience, express, and prioritise them in such different ways? And could exploring human development help us understand how our relationship to needs evolves...
The Needs Quadrant
Four Dimensions of Human Experience How is it that people can describe completely different worlds while referring to the same situation? And could we better understand each other by expanding our perspective to include more dimensions of human experience? In this...
All Human Beings Share the Same Universal Needs
Same Needs, Different Worlds: The Double Edge Sword of Consciousness I have, for more than 15 years – ever since I first encountered Nonviolent Communication (NVC) – held the assumption that all human beings share the same universal needs. And even before...
Needs Awareness
Why do people so often misunderstand each other, even when both sides are intelligent, well-intentioned, and well-meaning? Why do the same situations trigger completely different emotional reactions in different people? In this short series, I’m exploring the...
It Is Possible to Meet All Needs – Our World Offers Abundant Resources for Meeting Needs
When I walk through the streets of my hometown, Stockholm, I see people in very different life situations. There is often a striking difference in access to resources. At one table in a fancy restaurant, a well-dressed couple is sharing a meal, while just outside, a...
All Actions Are Attempts to Meet Needs
When I listen to the news and hear some politicians speak, I’m sometimes stunned by what I see as deeply distorted beliefs. It’s like being inside a bizarre movie – except that reality is more extreme than fiction. Their words and actions can land so far outside...