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In this book excerpt, Kathleen and Jared offer a path to reach deeper clarity, distinguishing between response and reaction.

Even in the face of societal upheavals we can look for what's in our power to change. For example, we can participate in systemic change, and heal whatever we need to heal that which keeps us from living our values more readily. We can take the time to be present to those in pain, and to show up fully in our lives even when we feel stress. We can take strides to make a difference towards creating the world we want to live in.

• Dive deep into Peaceful Living: Daily Meditations for Living with Love, Healing and Compassion with the author
• A year-long container to reflect, realign, and return to what matters most
• Experience the combination of Mary’s wisdom, daily meditations, and community
• Enjoy accompaniment and loving support throughout 2026 with like-minded individuals

In June, 1996, I had an epiphany. In a motel room in Indiana, the night before returning home from a solo camping trip in Michigan and Canada, I discovered how much I had lost in my life because of so fiercely protecting myself. Up until that day, bringing forth my vulnerable self was to be avoided at all costs, which kept me numb much of the time, disconnected from myself and from much of life. Alone in my room, I cried, I talked out loud, and I finally exclaimed to myself that I wanted to reclaim every last bit of my vulnerability, just like I had it as a child.

When we take a leap in life and put our hearts out into the world in new or bigger ways—sharing a song, dance, or poem, writing a book, competing at a sporting event, giving a speech, and so on—there is greater potential for aliveness but also for shame and pain

Robert Gonzales shares how embracing impermanence involves continually growing in his ability to accept unmet needs, to be comfortable with discomfort and unwanted experiences. Robert shares a quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow about letting it rain, emphasizing the simplicity and wisdom in accepting life's experiences as they come.

Tired of flat, confusing empathy? Cultivate a natural, authentic flow for greater connection.

From the depths of internal winter to the melting open in the warm sunshine of spring to rest in the ocean of Spirit, this poetry is a journey of discovering deep Presence through the human experiences so many of us share.

Gitta Zimmerman’s 2016 workshop for street workers focused on mediation and entrepreneurship.

Eric offers some tips for nurturing and affirming ourselves as a daily practice.

CNVC Certified Trainer Lore Baur asks: "Have you ever seen something happen that made you feel uncomfortable and you didn't know what to do?" That's the "bystander effect:" a well-researched and commonly experienced phenomenon. Training can help you overcome it, enabling you to discern what to do and how to support others in ways that reduce trauma and increase safety.

• Discover how to be radically honest without pushing “the other” away
• Learn to ask firmly and gracefully for what you want, hear ‘NO,’ and stay alive
• Explore how the power of empathy dissolves anger, pain, and fear
• Discern the essence of what others say, no matter how it is expressed

• Make use of felt-sense and somatic awareness to support faster and deeper shifts in yourself and others
• Master silent empathy to give more ease and flow in your empathy guessing
• "Streetify" your NVC practice by learning how to make your NVC practice more fluent, colloquial, and "natural" and match the person you're speaking with
• De-mystify empathy guessing by learning to identify key linguistic queues
• Build an "emergency empathy" tool kit---with "quick fixes" for challenging situations by using each step of the model for maximum effectiveness
• Interplay both the NVC "mindset" (consciousness/intention) and the NVC "tool kit" for greater ease, fluency and effectiveness

• Deepen your capacity for self-acceptance and self-compassion
• Bring greater compassion to your relationships
• Increase your capacity for vulnerability and mourning
• Enhance your sense of trusting your own place in life, as well as your purpose

Trainer Tip: In a Compassionate Communication process, we believe there are enough resources in the Universe to meet all of our needs. Most people are stumped because they can only see one strategy for meeting a need. Identify one need that you would like to experience more of and make a list of at least five strategies for meeting it today.

• Learn tips and strategies to ensure ALL voices are heard
• Grow your capacity to name and address power dynamics
• See how prior assumptions and perspectives impact how groups work together
• Explore facilitation components using a caring for all, power-with lens

• Learn the complexities of intersectionality 
• Gain a deeper understanding of the affects of differing life experiences
• Clear the way for a more authentic connection
• Deepen your ability to hold others in compassion

Total inclusion is impossible: inclusion of all can often lead to exclusion of those who can't bear the behaviors of some. Many groups flounder and disintegrate because of too much inclusion. Limited resources and capacities may make it necessary to exclude. Keeping more coherent shared values and strategies may be another reason to place membership conditions so that what appears to be exclusion may give movements a chance to expand.

Trainer Tip: Censoring oneself to maintain peace may seem easier, but it actually requires significant energy. You can free up that energy you use to deny and stuff down your feelings, needs, desires, truth, and figure out and adjust to what others want. Embracing authenticity and expressing true feelings and needs can lead to a liberating experience, unlocking joy, love, and endless possibilities.