One of the goals that we practice Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is to create violence (both in language and behaviors) consciousness. Another is shift.
Creating a shift in NVC means moving from our perspective and point of view on conflicts to the other side. We are whole-heartedly willing to imagine what it must have been for the other person to experience the conflict. The shift is the ultimate goal of our empathy practice.
Because we can view things from the other person’s perspective, we understand and often resonate with them.
The goal of empathy isn’t for the sake of doing it but for understanding and reconnecting with people.
It’s easy to believe the ones who benefit the most from the practice are people on the other side (since they don’t need to do anything), but that’s not often the case. It turned out we were the ones who learned the most from the shift because it liberated us from our triggered emotions and strengthened our muscles for resilience.
