Wednesday 30 December 2015

Surekh Samwaad - Kashe ani kuthe? ( सुरेख संवाद कसे पाहिजे - एक प्रयत्न )


 सुरेख संवाद कसे पाहिजे - एक प्रयत्न 


Surekh Samwaad - Kashe ani kuthe:

It was in the evening at around 5pm we all gathered and started our NVC session. It was for the first time that I was sharing NVC in Marathi. These bunch of youths were the NIGHT SCHOOL STUDENTS FROM MUMBAI. When we started with NVC, I actually asked them to share some experiences of their own life, where they found that they were not heard or when they thought, people don’t understand them or there is some friction or conflict. Many situations came in and what was really significant in all this, is that yes, we all have CONFLICTS in our lives and escaping from them is not at all the solution. And that’s we need to relook at situation, with a different lens and NVC (Non Violent Communications) is a way of looking at this differently.
The sharing also highlighted that we do feel hurt and we are torn at times, but we don’t have words to say. At times SILENCE is the best solution to stay calm and cool but how to communicate and let the other person know what I am going through is difficult. Also I am not sure if the other person will understand me or not? With people whom we know little this is still easy but with closed ones, it is very very difficult process.
In our sharing it also came, that we also have some needs of care, to be heard, to be considered and to be acknowledged but that never happens in our work places. The way we tried to understand needs and feelings of a human, with respect to our own body.
The 3-H THEORY (Head, Heart and Hand) explains it beautifully to a great extent. And we then looked at it. Only needs and feelings was exposed to the group since we were dealing with  the basics of NVC.

Small Model to help the group understand the NVC and where your needs and feelings are staying in your body. 






Then, we did a buddy sharing where each person took one situation of his life and asked some questions related to it.
 1. What conflicts means to you?
 2. What happens when you face a conflict?
 3. How do you respond to a conflict?
They started sharing it, and listening. The team of 2 was such that one was A and the other was B. When A will share, B will listen without responding. Similarly, when B will share A will listen. Also then they will share what they heard and will reflect. The sharing also helped them connect to each other, in the more special way. It was suggested that they take a situation which is of 4-5 level from 1-to 10 assuming that 1 is the least bothering situation and 10 is the most serious and bothering situation in your life.

It was quite moving to see, these youth talking about experiences from their homes to their slums, from the city news to political issues that we are facing today. They had diverse experiences and each one had some feelings and needs, that came very upfront and what was that? We did and together, tried to work on it.









Gorakh sharing with Santosh during the session.

Then we tried by taking one common situation. Then we looked at the needs and feelings associated with it. Wel also did some observation but did not go into much since it was first session and it was not a good idea to go fast but rather to let this concept SINK IN THEM.
Post that we had some discussion on NEEDS vs STRATERGIES. And how in our lives, many times we just look at strategies as our needs and not the need as such.  We did it through various examples from our daily lives, and looked at the various facets. Much more to take place in the subsequent sessions.
Looking forward to see some more enthusiastic crowd….!!
Gratitude and Peace.

Orientation and opening with the group members.






Tuesday 20 October 2015

How to talk honestly and truly with myself and with others?

A space to grow and learn from within -     

There is truly a space within all of us that discovers its existence in peace and when we are connected with self. People often struggle to connect with it not because they don’t want to or they can’t spare time, but mainly because of their own fear and some judgments about themselves which acts as triggers and doesn’t allow them to face things.

Last week, with Eklavya team at Hoshangabad (Pipariya) we discussed on the same looking at it through the NVC lens. We together discussed on how at times, what I talk really doesn’t mean the same, what the other person hears or was willing to share? At times, it is just difficult to speak to others and myself due to the numerous judgments I carry about myself. For me at that point it’s essential to connect with myself and understand my own needs.
We also discussed then what kind of needs, generally come up and how do you know if it is really a need or maybe it’s only a strategy and not a need? May be its was quite challenging to first understand the difference between need and strategy and we looked at different examples to understand this particular concept.


Need- For me if I want to eat a pizza or a burger or rice, my need may be food (physical) or may be a need for choice whereas other things like what I really eat is just a means  for me. Similarly if I want to buy a car, car cannot be my need, my need will be either let’s say ease, space or growth whereas car is just one of my strategies to meet those needs. If someone offers me a strategy where I can go in an A.C. bus to my office, I might drop and look at this second strategy as an alternative.


We also then came out with different needs for ourselves, with which we struggle every day. Many experiences came in where team members shared how at times, when we talk something honestly and with good intention, then also the other person becomes angry and becomes irritated.

Then we did a small round, where people took different situations from their life, where they shared that situation, then the need that they connected with most and the feeling connected with it. This gave them confidence to connect more with what was alive in them, at that moment.



Brijesh sharing his experience with the help of Need and Feeling Cards, during the session. 


Brijesh, Nanda and Varsha shared their stories where they clearly said that if we talk honestly, then we are OUT from the place. So that also means there is a huge need of security, safety and trust before you speak honestly to others. At this point when I asked them to do a role play where 3 of them are talking to one X person  and then told them to pick the needs card which might be their need at that point. Then I asked the group to pick one NEED’s card for the other person X to whom they are actually talking to. And see what they discovered…..??
So, the other person’s need is so different than mine right now, so how can he welcome my agenda and that too when I am at his place/ home or territory? He is all together at a different height from where I am observing things. So, when we slowly reflect back on the needs card and look at both the beautiful needs, the first thing we need to understand is
“ALL NEEDS ARE BEAUTIFUL.”
 And before we move ahead, we first have to decide whether we can listen to the person completely in our full awareness or we need to request the person to first listen to me. Empathy, is that’s why the core of Nonviolent communications.
Here we might need to ask:

1.      Do I have enough inner space to be able to listen to the other person fully?

This check in helps to much extent. Participants reflected in different groups on the same and then they worked in different situations where one was giving empathy and the other one was receiving.

After this was done, some interesting sharing that came were like this- (translated to English, originally was in Hindi)    
  •  For me I never knew I can be so particular about my feelings. These cards really made me full from inside.
  •       I always had a big conflict from within, that used to bother me, but that is because I was focusing more on strategies and not on needs. Now, I am happy to discover, that we can look at different strategies for the same needs.
  •       I am feeling confident because now I know, it’s not the other person’s mistake, it is just that his needs are different than me.
  •       I am relieved and feeling lighter. Happy to discover this.