Inspiration – The Needs’ Year (Week 37)
The day before yesterday I got married! After the wedding ceremony and partying all night I was dead tired. All of Sunday was spent eating leftovers and resting. Visiting party guests came over for brunch while waiting for buses and trains back home. Later I took a...
Fairness – The Needs’ Year (Week 36)
During my first year-long training course in Nonviolent Communication (NVC), all participants went through a social experiment. During one of our lunches, we were divided into three groups. The biggest group received a simple meal consisting of rice and beans. I was...
Clarity – The Needs’ Year (Week 34)
I’m desperately trying to change the language on the computer. Everything is in Polish and I don’t understand anything! I call Magda for the fifteenth time and ask her to help me translate some commands, so I can perform the most basic tasks. I feel stressed,...
Learning – The Needs’ Year (Week 33)
Inevitably, my eyes are drawn to the bookshelf. I scan titles and my eyes become fixed on a yellow book with the title “The Culture Map”. I ask my host, Paulina, if the book is good and if she recommends it. “Do you want to borrow it?” she asks and I’m not...
Sexual Expression – The Needs’ Year (Week 32)
My abdomen and legs began to tremble in convulsions. It was as if I were receiving jolts of electricity through my limbs. It was a pulsating sensation that multiplied through my body. I thought I was going to explode, so I immediately stopped what I was doing....
Space – The Needs’ Year (Week 31)
– Joachim, could you say…? – No! I’m leaving in 10 minutes! The answer came fast as lightning. I was in a hurry, quite stressed and needed to pack the last items before leaving home. I knew I didn’t have enough capacity to both prepare the...
Connection – The Needs’ Year (Week 30)
He had been grumpy all week. It didn’t matter if it was during the community meetings, when we were playing volleyball or during meals. Not a smile crossed his lips. What was wrong with him? My judgments about one of the participants at the European NVC Summer...
Touch – The Needs’ Year (Week 29)
For ten years, from the time I was about seven, I don’t recall many memories of physical closeness to others. I remember a sweaty wrestling game with my friends when I turned ten. I have sweet memories of being close to the girl I was in love with when I was 14, when...