Though I have been in Regenerative Practice for a decade now, every time I read or discuss these principles with others, I get something new and deeper. In this case, reflecting on an experience I had in my first ever NVC workshop which happened to be the weekend after the 2016 elections. I was so distressed ruminating on the white supremacy underlying the election result that year and through the framing of NVC I had a heart opening breakthrough about the fundamental needs of all people, and the misplaced strategies to fulfill those needs that often arise in this country. That reframe helped me so much, and I believe has helped my work and capacity to engage challenging conversations across lines of intense ideological difference. Seeing this dynamic framed through wholeness, essence, and potential helps to anchor it even deeper.
This is a wonderful reflection! The courage and care to witness the trauma behind white supremacy behavior and the loving essence even deeper is profound. What new potential did that breakthrough surface regarding politics?
It opened up my own capability and capacity to empathize with the fears and projections of others rather than just seeing them as evil / abusive / dominating. That shift also helped put into perspective the smallness of those operating from those fears which helped me myself feel less afraid, and helped me to take refuge (in the Buddhist sense) in the expansive power of community in every sense. It helped me to be able to speak to the beauty of diversity from an ecological perspective which I hope has reoriented some peoples' minds away from the fear and control strategy of monocultural thinking toward an ethic of polycultural thriving. I don't interface with a lot of conservative / white supremacist people directly, my service is more in supporting people already moving toward regenerative futures in deepening the integrity of their work, but I know that the things I have taught from this perspective have had ripple effects and I am grateful for the ways this shift has opened my own heart.
Though I have been in Regenerative Practice for a decade now, every time I read or discuss these principles with others, I get something new and deeper. In this case, reflecting on an experience I had in my first ever NVC workshop which happened to be the weekend after the 2016 elections. I was so distressed ruminating on the white supremacy underlying the election result that year and through the framing of NVC I had a heart opening breakthrough about the fundamental needs of all people, and the misplaced strategies to fulfill those needs that often arise in this country. That reframe helped me so much, and I believe has helped my work and capacity to engage challenging conversations across lines of intense ideological difference. Seeing this dynamic framed through wholeness, essence, and potential helps to anchor it even deeper.
This is a wonderful reflection! The courage and care to witness the trauma behind white supremacy behavior and the loving essence even deeper is profound. What new potential did that breakthrough surface regarding politics?
It opened up my own capability and capacity to empathize with the fears and projections of others rather than just seeing them as evil / abusive / dominating. That shift also helped put into perspective the smallness of those operating from those fears which helped me myself feel less afraid, and helped me to take refuge (in the Buddhist sense) in the expansive power of community in every sense. It helped me to be able to speak to the beauty of diversity from an ecological perspective which I hope has reoriented some peoples' minds away from the fear and control strategy of monocultural thinking toward an ethic of polycultural thriving. I don't interface with a lot of conservative / white supremacist people directly, my service is more in supporting people already moving toward regenerative futures in deepening the integrity of their work, but I know that the things I have taught from this perspective have had ripple effects and I am grateful for the ways this shift has opened my own heart.