Living in 2021 with all of its illness, despair, and violence makes us long for a way of communicating with one another that could produce better outcomes for all of us.

We want a way to communicate that could allow all of us to have our needs be understood and met while meeting other people's needs as well.

I'm going to talk about a technique for communicating called nonviolent communication.

It was developed by an author named Marshall Rosenberg back in the late sixties, early seventies.

It helps us communicate in a way that expresses our feelings, expresses our needs, and respects the needs and feelings of other people.

Do you want to be a great listener?

I'm going to tell you what great listeners actually do.

These are 3 key characteristics of people who really know how to listen.

Have you ever tried to be emotionally supportive to a friend and instead made things worse?

I know I have.

It's easy to say the wrong thing when we are trying to help people handle painful emotions.

Here I give you a guide to the potential landmines that you need to avoid.

I'm going to tell you what not to say when you're trying to comfort or provide emotional support to a friend or a loved one.

Empathy is one of the most important communication skills.

In many ways, all other communication skills depend on empathy.

But what is it?

What is the difference between empathy and compassion? Is empathy only about feeling other people's emotions?

Empathy and sympathy?

How much of empathy is about feelings and how much about thoughts? What does emotional regulation have to do with empathy?

What is empathic accuracy?