NVC is a reminder; to focus our attention where we are most likely to get our needs met.

If you think ahead to what to say next - like how to fix it or make the person feel better - BOOM! Off the board. You're into the future. Empathy requires staying with the energy that's here right now. Not using any technique. Just being present. When I have really connected to this energy, it's like I wasn't there. I call this "watching the magic show". In this presence, a very precious energy works through us that can heal anything, and this relieves me from my "fix-it" tendencies.

I think that there is a problem with rewards and consequences because in the long run, they rarely work in the ways we hope. In fact, they are likely to backfire.

Never hear what somebody thinks about you, you'll live longer. Hear that they're in pain. Don't hear their analysis.

Miracles can happen when we can keep our consciousness away from analyzing and classifying one another.

With empathy, I'm fully with them, not full of them — that's sympathy.

We are this divine energy. It's not something we have to attain. We just have to realize it, to be present to it.