If you are a jackal, you will try to reassure. Jackals try to fix people in pain. They can't stand pain, but make matters worse by trying to get rid of it. Put on giraffe ears. Try to hear what they are feeling and needing.

Never question the beauty of what you are saying because someone reacts with pain, judgment, criticism. It just means they have not heard you.

NVC is interested in learning that is motivated by reverence for life, by a desire to learn skills, to contribute better to our own well-being and the well-being of others.

Get very clear about the kind of world we would like and then start living that way.

Empathy is a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing. Instead of offering empathy, we often have a strong urge to give advice or reassurance and to explain our own position or feeling. Empathy, however, calls upon us to empty our mind and listen to others with our whole being.

The more we talk about the past, the less we heal from it.

As long as I think I 'should' do it, I'll resist it, even if I want very much to do it.