Did you know that according to market analysis reports, the global personal development market size was estimated at USD 43.77 billion in 2022 and is anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.5% to 2030. Are we better people I wonder as a result? Are we better listeners? 

Book Resource:

The Exquisite Risk by Mark Nepo https://marknepo.com/books_theexquisite.php

A message for listeners as we step into 2024 ..

Stop, be still, make room for the darkness

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This episode reexamines the concepts of duty and obligation as referenced in Nonviolent Communication. Might there be merit in rehabilitating these terms and understanding them as a meaningful way to contribute to life?

"We don’t want people to do things out of obligation or duty, or out of guilt or shame, or to buy love. With some consciousness, I’m confident we would each see that we only want people to do things if they can do it willingly, because they clearly see how it’s going to enrich life if they do. Any other reason for doing things is likely to create conditions that make it harder for people in the future to behave in a compassionate way toward one another." —Marshall Rosenberg

The Nonviolent Communication Book of Quotes (PuddleDancer Press, Sept 2023) https://www.nonviolentcommunication.com/product/the-nonviolent-communication-book-of-quotes/

In today's episode I speak with Dr. Joshua Coleman who is a recognized expert on the rapidly growing phenomenon of parental estrangement. He has written two books on the subject and provides ongoing support to parents, as well as grandparents, who struggle with being cut out of their adult children's lives.

In Dr. Coleman's words: "While there’s nothing especially modern about family conflict or a desire to feel insulated from it, conceptualizing the estrangement of a family member as an expression of personal growth as it is commonly done today is almost certainly new." (AEON Jan 2021 article)

A Shift in American Family Values Is Fueling Estrangement: https://www.drjoshuacoleman.com/post/a-shift-in-american-family-values-is-fueling-estrangement

Dr. Coleman's website: https://www.drjoshuacoleman.com/

This episode features an excerpt from a conversation with relationship coach Dolphin Kasper who invited me to his podcast The Better Relationship Podcast. The subject: our learned separation.

Link to full episode on The Better Relationship Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/47S67umOuttRTNWsuu5Cyw?si=BGVTS2ovQ5-g7cJm_PXrpw

Last week I shared Part 1 of a conversation I had with Sofie De Wulf, Outreach & Programs Coordinator for NVC Academy. Here is Part 2 of our conversation where Sofie and I discuss ecology, our relationship with nature, our lived separation from nature and from each other, how we speak about needs, as well as how people concretely benefit from learning Nonviolent Communication.

Learn more about the course I will be offering in Feb/Mar 2024 through the NVC Academy:

⁠https://nvcacademy.com/live-nvc-courses/video-conference/bridging-differences-2024

In this episode, I share a conversation I had recently with Sofie De Wulf, Outreach & Programs Coordinator for NVC Academy. NVC Academy offers hundreds of online courses and resources to learn Nonviolent Communication from home and they have invited me to present a course in February and March of 2024 titled Bridging Differences, Building Bonds: A Revolutionary Approach to Resolving Conflict. I enjoyed my conversation with Sofie so much that I'm sharing it here. This is part 1 of our conversation. Part 2 will be aired next week.

Learn more about the course I will be offering in Feb/Mar 2024:

https://nvcacademy.com/live-nvc-courses/video-conference/bridging-differences-2024

In this episode, I explore one of my all time favourite books by psychologist and author David Richo titled The Five Things We Cannot Change .. and the Happiness We Find by Embracing Them. (Shambala Publications 2005)

Get the book:

https://www.amazon.com/Five-Things-Cannot-Change-Happiness/dp/1590303083

In this episode I share some of my own feelings, thoughts and wonderings after viewing "Investigating Buffy Sainte-Marie’s claims to Indigenous ancestry" produced by The Fifth Estate.

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