Communication and Peacemaking
Most people think of peace as a state of Nothing Bad Happening, or Nothing Much Happening. Yet if peace is to overtake us and make us the gift of serenity and well-being, it will have to be the state of Something Good is Happening."
E.B. White
Creating safe places and processes for people to connect and to be heard constitutes one of the most essential elements of effective communication and peacemaking. Most of us have good or at least pretty good problem solving skills but we often have difficulty in getting past strong negative emotions and engaging those skills. Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and the practice of Dialogue offer simple (not necessarily easy) strategies for hearing and being heard.