Category Archives: Zen in daily life

Non-Violent Communication and Zen

I’d like to share with you my experience of Non-Violent Communication (NVC) and how it is on its way to being at the heart of my own personal Zen practice. Over the past fifteen years I have closely encountered the personal suffering of hundreds of individuals, from the privileged vantage point of one to one psychotherapist and counsellor. I have also observed my own suffering in relationship with myself and other people, and witnessed that of those closest to me. As a Zen practitioner I am constantly seeking to understand the suffering of human beings and ways to ‘put an end to it’. A part of this process for me has involved gaining a deeper insight into psychological and emotional styles of operating in the world, including my own.

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Struggle and Lack

The teaching tells us that suffering or lack of ease arises because of our attachments and ongoing sense that something is lacking. This latter usually takes the form of experiencing a lack of a very basic feeling of security – a security that we all know consciously or otherwise life can never ultimately provide.

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