It’s my second day back in the office after returning from NVC summer camp.  Nonviolent communication (also NVC or compassionate communication) starts from the intention of connecting with others and seeking to find ways in which everyone’s needs can be met.  In my own work as a coach I aim to hold people as resourceful and whole:  NVC does the same.

And yes, it was a busman’s holiday for me.  Some of my most precious moments were moments of connection and conversations in which I was able to draw on my skills as a coach in support of my friends and colleagues on the camp.  You know you are doing the work you love when you do it whether or not you are being paid.

I return with such a sense of nourishment and celebration.  I enjoyed connecting with people I know well and people I met for the first time at camp.  Opting for the “glamping” option (staying nearby in a house rented for the occasion) I cherish the community of women and children in the house.  I wonder whether Mark, who joined us several days in, is an honorary woman or an honorary child – maybe both.  I also celebrate the men on the camp and especially those moments when I witnessed the men supporting each other in the fulness of emotions that can arise when we commit to live from the heart.

Even as I write I feel the fullness of my heart and I experience this as a state – a way of being – that I want to maintain.  It’s not always easy in the busy-ness of everyday life.

My thanks to Des and all the team at the Rainbow Mill for making it possible to come together in this way.  Words aren’t quite enough to express the depth of gratitude I feel when I think of the many needs met and the fullness of a life lived in this way.