Compassionate communication fosters collaboration by establishing relationships especially in families and workplaces rooted in honesty and empathy. According to Marshall Rosenberg: Every message, regardless of form or content, is an expression of a need.
Compassionate communication involves expressing what one sees, feels, and needs and making requests that enrich one’s life based off those three elements with honesty while extending these very same elements of communication to others with empathy.
Compassionate communication is a “nonviolent communication,” we express ourselves with honesty while receiving the self-expression of others with empathy, Marshall B. Rosenberg in his book, A Language of Life, “When we focus on clarifying what is being observed, felt, and needed rather than on diagnosing and judging, we discover the depth or our compassion.” Compassionate communication, also referred to as “nonviolent communication,” is a specific framework for the expressing of one’s self with honesty and receiving the self-expression of others with empathy. This four-part framework is as follows:
This four-part framework is as follows:
1. Observations: The concrete actions we observe that affect our well-being.
2. Feelings: How we feel in relation to what we observe.
3. Needs: The needs, values, desires, etc. that create our feelings.
4. Requests: The concrete actions we request in order to enrich our lives.
The process of nonviolent communication is not a set formula, but rather a framework that can be adapted to situations as well as personal and cultural styles. The framework is an internal process that may or may not be spoken out loud, but involves giving of one’s self in the form of honest self-expression as well as in the form of empathetic receiving. Communication is giving and receiving in a manner that supports the dignity of all parties.
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