Rating: 
Summary: NVC can be applied in any communication scenario
Review:
Featured Book - "Nonviolent Communication" by Marshall B.
Rosenberg, Ph.D.This book's full title is "Nonviolent Communication: A Language
of Compassion." It was brought to my attention by the founders of
my sons' school, and for that I thank them. This book explains
Rosenberg's philosophy and model for communicating with others in
a compassionate, nonviolent way. It explores the profound
subtleties of the messages behind the words we use, and examines
how to listen, truly listen, to the messages being sent to us by
the people we communicate with, as well as the messages we are
sending. In Chapter 1 Rosenberg begins, "Believing that it is our nature
to enjoy giving and receiving in a compassionate manner, I have
been preoccupied most of my life with two questions. What happens to disconnect us from our compassionate nature, leading us to
behave violently and exploitatively? And conversely, what allows
some people to stay connected to their compassionate nature under
even the most trying circumstances?" The Nonviolent Communication ("NVC") model's main precept is to
train oneself to focus carefully on words as they're received,
and to examine the speaker's feelings and needs, along with one's
own, in a nonjudgmental way. The model is comprised of four components: observation, feelings, needs, and request. The next
level of engagement involves expressing oneself honestly using
the four components, and receiving empathically using the four
components. I'll leave the details for your reading pleasure;
Rosenberg does an excellent job of walking through the model, its
theory and history, its application, and its potential for
profound and positive change. His writing style is engaging,
friendly, straightforward, and sincere. He relates his own
experiences as a youth, a clinical psychologist, and his many
world-wide efforts to promote nonviolent resolution of disputes
and conflicts, thereby providing a good balance between theory
and examples of NVC in action. Rosenberg's NVC model works in both directions of human
communication: us listening compassionately, and us speaking
compassionately. NVC can be applied in any communication
scenario, whether with a child, significant other, sibling,
parent, business partner, client, neighbor, stranger... anyone
and everyone you communicate with. I highly recommend this book to you. The NVC tools and
Rosenberg's insights assist me every day, and have profoundly
enriched my interpersonal communications.
Rating:
Summary: Offers enormous potential for deeply satisfying connections
Review: As a class teacher in a Waldorf elementary school, I relate with many children, parents, and colleagues on a daily basis. The process of non-violent communication presented in this book is transforming every one of these relationships. Living the process enables me to connect more deeply with the living present reality in each child, and children love and respond to the experience of that deep recognition. Parents remark at my increased openness and accessibility; whatever feelings or thoughts a parent might express, even what I might have formerly interpreted as anger, criticism or fault-finding, I am learning how to stay with process, stay with what is alive in them, and seek to know what unmet needs might be underlying those feelings or thoughts. Parents remark that they feel deeply listened to and heard. Solutions come more easily and naturally once our shared human needs are acknowledged. Conflicts and misunderstandings with colleagues now become opportunities to create deeper connections as together we translate our positions and strategies into the universally human needs underlying the feelings. Anger, depression, shame and guilt become friends, willing to help me wake to some vital need or longing within me that is not being met in some situation. Those voices we all have in our heads scolding us for this and blaming us for that--they too can be heard for the living human needs they represent. Marshall has developed a new language, a language of the heart, that creates the possibility for all of these changes. Read the book! Seek out a trainer
Rating:
Summary: life changing book
Review: I HAVE FOUND THIS BOOK TO BE A REPETITIOUS WASTE OF TIME.THE ONLY USE OF THIS INFORMATION WOULD BE FOR SOMEONE TRAINING TO NEGOTIATE WITH PROBLEM GROUPS OR WORKING AS SHRINK. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY. .
Rating:
Summary: Easy, fun and inspiring to read and use
Review: I have read and studied a lot of psychological theories and models. Most of them are quite complex and take some time to learn a new vocabulary and understand the semantics of it. I started reading Rosenburg's book in the middle. It is the most readable book on self-awareness I have ever read. He makes his process of Nonviolent Communication very accessable right in this small book. His real-life example stories make it easy to connect to his teaching. He really knows how to communicate and it shows in this book. I plan to buy more copies and give away as gifts, not something I tend to do. This book is a gold-mine for *any* relationship. Co-workers, friends, spouses, children, bosses, enemies, family...I believe what we all want so dearly in this day and age is real human contact and we are not getting it in many of our relationships. This book can help empower us to get the human contact we long for, and the other person will get what they want too. I admire Mr. Rosenburg's wisdom and human contact so much that I plan to take one of his courses that explore the use of Nonviolent Communication more in-depth. This book has the tools to really practice peace. We have so much knowledge and experience on how to wage war and violence. Yet peace is still such a mystery. I look at Ghandi in awe. Using the tools of this book, it is a bit easier to look at Ghandi and understand how he did what he did.
Rating:
Summary: Change your communications, change your consciousness
Review: I read this book on a plane from San Diego to Virginia. I was so enthralled by it that I was disappointed when I arrived at my destination. While reading it I cryed and laughed out loud. It is easy to read and has touching examples that illistrate the principles. Applying the principles to my life and using the easy four-step tool has helped me change old conditioned beliefs and ways of acting. It has allowed me to overcome my toxic conditioning and find the loving parent and person that was locked inside. Reading the book can be the beginning of a journey. Applying the principles to your life will allow you to live fully. Dr. Rosenberg has created a way to transform the violence in the world. Violence begins with language. If we can change our communication, we can change our consciousness. Then we can dance with others and create beauty and harmony instead of war and destruction.
Rating:
Summary: Transform Your Relationships
Review: I spent all my life,40 years, trying to get empathy from my dad. After only ready half of this book. I was able to express myself in a way that he was able to hear me and give me what I needed. All I did was follow the steps outlined in this book. It was a gift beyond words. I felt loved, appreciated, repected, and cared for. I would recommend this book to everyone so we can do our part to transform this violent world we live in to one of peace and compassion.
Rating: 
Summary: You have to have a Ph.D. in English to understand this book!
Review: I'm 30 and this book is written well over my head! I admit, I hate to read, but I was very interested in growing as a person, but this book is in a foreign language! I didn't understand any of it! What happen to good old plain ENGLISH!!
Don't waste your money! If you know of a better, easier to understand book, like the Friendship Factor, email me!
The Friendship Factor is a great book! Even if its 26 yrs old! At least its in ENGLISH!
Rating:
Summary: Use Your Anger as Your Alarm Clock
Review: Like all of my book reviews, this review is meant to express my appreciation to the author for the value that reading this book has added to my life. But what makes my desire to write a review for this book is different from other reviews, because if I were to really identify all the messages and examples that Marshall Rosenberg provides in this book, I would exceed the maximum 1,000 word limit, 100 times over - and then some. This book caught my attention, because I am writing a communication book. As I read this book, I kept saying, "Wow! Once I actually master this example, my life will be enhanced beyond my wildest dreams."
The interesting thing that happened, 30 pages into reading this book is that my life has been tremendously enhanced.
I was in the process of making several life-changing decisions, which involved a large corporation, and the CEO who seemed to be taking his own time deciding "my fate." I remember one day getting fed up with the delays, and as I was reading this book, I noted this person's demeanor, my feelings, during those experiences, my needs, and the request that I had to make, with unwavering conviction. I nearly threw out all ideas of applying what I've learned in this book, during my confronting this person. But, as I looked him in his eyes, and as I told myself that fulfilling my needs versus waiting for whatever timetable he was on was not an option, I nearly abandoned the idea of how important it is for me to remember to ask myself what I want this person's reasons to be for doing what I'm requesting of him. And it was in reminding myself of this valuable question; along with my interrupting him with, "I'm confused. I'd like to see the connection between what I said and your response, but I don't. Would you be willing to explain how your words relate to what I said?" that led us to turn things around, in a very big way. I know that I will reread this book many times, because during this first read I kept telling myself to slow down, and really allow what he taught me to permeate my life. While reading the first time has helped me to see what I was telling myself in times that I had not compassionately responded to people who I had judged as petty, I am sure that each time I read this book, I will become better at empathetically responding to people who up to now I had decided were too toxic to deal with. Thank you Marshall Rosenberg. I look forward to attending your workshops.
Rating:
Summary: Essential reading for anyone interested in communication!
Review: Marshall Rosenberg offers a radical challenge to centuries of momentum toward thought and language that creates violence. His teachings illuminate the underpinnings of violence in our world, but maybe more importantly in our families and everyday life. The book addresses violence in its dramatic as well as subtle forms. He covers familiar territory for those who have studied communication and language, however the profound foundations and simple practicality of his message far exceed others' offerings to date. This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to end the unfulfilling cycles of argument in their relationship. It is essential for parents who wish to influence their childrens' behavior by engendering compassion rather than simply achieving obediance. It is essential for mediators encumbered by complex models of negotiation. Although not collaborators, Rosenberg's teachings provide the theoretical understanding and practical application consistent with the writings and research summaries of Alfie Kohn in his books "Punished by Rewards", "Beyond Discipline", and "No Contest" (as well as others by Kohn). If enough people actually make use of the material in "Nonviolent Communication" we may soon live in a more peaceful and compassionate world.
Rating:
Summary: Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Compassion
Review: Since first discovering Nonviolent Communication through reading the book several months ago, NVC has catalyzed a process of clarification/healing/empowerment in me that I could never have imagined. This process has impacted every area of my life and continues to unfold. I have come to deeply value what NVC teaches. For me, it unifies the spiritual truths I've found in all the world's religions. Especially precious to me is the fact that it facilitates and strengthens mutually nourishing connections to others. I love it that it's taught as a skill, one human being to fully empowered fellow human beings, and that its truths are experientially testable. In my view, its challenge to imagine "life-serving systems" (a phrase which comes from the mission statement of the Center for Nonviolent Communication) couldn't be more timely or more truly life-serving in today's world. I'm remembering Marshall Rosenberg saying in a workshop something to the effect that all the great religions have "love" at their heart, and "I'm just trying to figure out how to do that." I stand in awe of the model this book teaches as a means of learning how to "do" love and in awe of its elegant simplicity.
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