For approximately the first thirty years of my life, I had a sense of what I didn’t want, but did not have a clear vision of what I did want. Lacking that vision meant it took a while to find a career that at least aligned with my interests, but I still did not have a strong sense of purpose and direction. When I found the Spolin Theater Games—one of the early roots of Improv and Improv Comedy—my world cracked open. I discovered the magic of following a process and seeing where it leads you: to unexpected insights, to responding from a place of intuition, and to the joy of connection, discovery, and collaboration. I experienced how to connect with other humans through play. This new embodied knowledge led me to a love of creativity, collaboration, and community. And eventually, that love led me to NVC, which has deepened the richness of my life.
At the New York NVC Intensive in 2008, I was by myself, and I noticed so many negative, self-judgmental thoughts! I remembered the Educator/Chooser model in Nonviolent Communication (NVC)—that each painful thought was trying to educate me, to make my life more wonderful, and from that I empathized with each thought without blame, and as a result, I felt the beginnings of integrated self-acceptance and healing. This experience showed me that NVC can be used to confront any negative thought and negative self-image I might have. That is so incredibly inspiring to me, to hold intrinsically the knowledge that even painful thoughts have beautiful messages, and those thoughts are doing their best to contribute to life as well. This understanding helps me to humanize those thoughts and welcome them as contributions to my learning and growth.
From 2008 through 2016, I led occasional intros and workshops, and began co-leading an NVC practice group in Durham, North Carolina. By 2018, I realized that I kept coming back to NVC, and it was a permanent part of my being. I wanted to commit more deeply to living the values of NVC, and for that reason, I chose the path of certification. The NVC process has helped me identify what I do want, not just what I don’t want, and knowing what you want is a powerful life force.
My path now is to continue the inner work and learning of NVC Consciousness; share NVC more broadly; to find ways to bridge divides and build communities of many kinds; and to do my part by living a life of joy, honesty, play, and collaboration. I love meeting people where they are in their journey, and I love showing up with my playful, messy, authentic self. This is both a statement of intent and an invitation to anyone who feels called to connect with me and play in this space.
