Hi friends, My name is Itzel and I’m happy for this opportunity to share a bit about myself and how I came to teach NVC. I was an activist before I knew what the word meant. When I was a child, I often argued with the…

Greetings dear readers of the Growing Roots Newsletter! Mary Mackenzie invited me to be a guest writer for this issue to which I happily agreed. She also shared that her messages are typically more personal in nature, something I always appreciate in a newsletter. The…

It is the first day of 2024 and I am filled with gratitude and awe. Yesterday, I celebrated my 9th year of hosting my annual New Year’s Peace Meditation. We had over 800 people register from many, many different countries and the meditation was interpreted…

It is the first day of December and it seems to me as if 2023 went by with a flash. I have felt deep despair about the growing division between people and the devastating impact it has had on human beings, all life in fact,…

Less than 2 weeks ago from the time I’m writing this letter, Hamas militants crossed from Gaza into Israel and killed more than 1,300 people, most of them civilians. Israel then retaliated and killed over 3,000 Gazans, most of them civilians. The death rate continues…

October always makes me think about Marshall Rosenberg, the founder of Nonviolent Communication. He was born October 6, 1934. If he were still alive today (he died February 7, 2015), he would be 89 years old!

The season is changing. What have you done to nurture yourself these past several months? It has been summer in my part of the world and moving into fall. 

I ended last month’s Growing Roots letter with a question to you: “Do you remember that you are a gift?” I hope you had moments throughout July that reminded you of this! I am still thinking about it, actually.

I want to report that after writing last month’s Growing Roots letter, I did indeed employ my tried-and-true method of moving past inertia: First step time limits. In doing so, I  made progress on planting my vegetable garden.