One of the foundational skills of Nonviolent Communication is empathy. Empathy is connecting to feelings and needs through listening, watching and noticing what someone is saying, feeling, and doing. Sometimes it is referred to as “listening with understanding.”
What does this mean? It means to hear the thoughts and attitudes from the other person’s point of view instead of analyzing, judging, agreeing or disagreeing… simply hear what is being said and what the personal meaning is for the other person. When this happens, the person drops their stance – their need to prove themselves innocent or right. There is this melting away.
I found this great article about teaching empathy to children to reduce bullying and “increase prosocial behavior.” According to the article, “Researchers are finding that empathy is innate in most humans.” Empathy can be taught through modeling the behavior, and when it is practiced, everyone gets the benefits.
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