Thank you all for supporting me financially through this platform. I'm so appreciative of your generosity and I'm sending you back love & light.
During my intensive training in Non-Violent Communication, I understood an important thing about communication that was foreign to me before.
When we think about communication, oftentimes we think about expressing ourselves. But the key to communication is the listening part. Listening from the heart is a skill and can be learned and this is what I teach in my "heart-centered listening & communication" workshops.
Heart-centered listening & communication means translating the messages of others into needs and feelings and hearing beyond blame, labeling, criticism. The goal there is to choose love & connection over righteousness.
For example, if I hear someone saying "It never seems to be enough for you," instead of hearing a criticism of my contribution that I would judge as unfair, I will hear the needs and feelings of this person.
I will translate the message into "I'm frustrated because I need appreciation." Then, from this place, I will choose to connect with from the heart and give reassurance to this person and offering appreciation.
When we listen beyond the words, we choose connection and we choose love. It is what it means to be human––being in service to others and love.
Thank you all.