Co-founder of Life Enriching Communication and certified trainer with The Center for Nonviolent Communication Eddie Zacapa shares how being a passionate volunteer had made a difference in his life. He started doing it twenty years ago. Now, his passion for volunteering is still burning. Eddie says volunteering, together with nonviolent communication as a form of feedback, is a very good combination because it eliminates judgment. He also gave an overview of his book, Essentials for Cultivating Passionate Volunteers and Leaders, pointing out how anyone can use it as a quick resource, especially with volunteer work.

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Making A Difference As A Passionate Volunteer with Eddie Zacapa

I have a guest with me, Eddie Zacapa. He is a heartrepreneur because he believes in volunteering and showing how leaders can volunteer. He's the Cofounder of Life Enriching Communication and a certified trainer for The Center for Nonviolent Communication. Eddie, welcome.

Thank you for having me on the show.

Tell me about Nonviolent Communication, Eddie.

Nonviolent Communication is a communication process that was started by Marshall Rosenberg. It helps you get connected with your heart. It gives you an awareness of what your feelings and what your needs are in communicating from there instead of from your head where we usually use moralistic judgments when we're triggered. It also helps you to connect empathetically with other people's feelings and needs, what might be going on for them so that you can focus on needs and finding a solution to problems.

Give me an example. You said that regular communication is judgment. It involves your head. How would communication be different when it involves empathy in your heart?

Typically, when we get triggered, we get reactive and defensive. There's a story in our head that we start to play. There are some shoulds and there's usually, “They should do this.” Nonviolent Communication tries to steer away from that by focusing on what's happening, stating facts and observations. Instead of saying, “Henry is aggressive,” which is an evaluation or saying, “You are aggressive,” which might cause someone to be defensive. It’s saying, “I noticed that you raised your voice or you closed the door loudly.” Just state what the facts are and then you share how you feel and what your needs are so that people can empathize with you as well. Then you're trying to connect with them and what's the need behind their behavior instead of judging them.

We're looking for the need behind the behavior instead of buying the smokescreen of the behavior. We're not going to get caught up in the smokescreen and take some emotional trip with them, but we're going to figure out what their behavior is doing. You started with volunteering. Tell me a little bit about how you got started in that.

It's interesting because I started volunteering since I was a kid. My mom instilled in me to give back. She wanted me to be a priest when I was a little boy and I started volunteering as an altar boy. I remember getting up early in the morning and going to do that before school. Then I also remember going to her work and helping her out. She was a secretary and I helped her with filing. I remember her co-workers asking me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I said, “I want to be the president of the United States.” They said, “What?” They were shocked but they thought it was cute. Even at that young age, I thought, “How can I make the biggest difference in the world?” I thought that might be one way to do that. When I was in college, I continued volunteering. I got steered into nonprofits.