Since 2011, when I first conceived of this blog, its title “street giraffe” has morphed and come to mean a myriad of differing things, for me personally, however at its root it’s a synonym for Nonviolent Communication.

Street Giraffe is a term originally coined by the late Marshall Rosenberg to connote a more colloquial form of NVC.

(More as to “street giraffe” [jackal/giraffe] origin story here)

“This means prioritizing the consciousness over the form…”
~ Miki Kashtan

#MediateOnesLife

@StreetGiraffe

 American Commons

 The Center for Nonviolent Communication

Beneath courtesy of Louise Evans, Coach/Corporate Trainer, Author of 5 Chairs 5 Choices:

[Giraffe-Inspired] TEDx Talk: Own Your Behaviours, Master Your Communication

“…and for all his sweetness, he had the tiger and the jackal in his soul.” Voltairine de Cleyre

“I once asked Marshall Rosenberg, creator of Nonviolent Communication, what it would take for me to ‘really learn this stuff’. His answer: ‘Practice, practice, practice.'” (continues)

– Lucy Leu, author of Nonviolent Communication Companion Workbook

3 Ways to Practice Nonviolent Communication – wikiHow

Additional information, beneath, regarding both NVC (a.k.a. Conscious Communication) & NVC Mediation Resources

Our free ‘dialogue lab’ (skill-building) tele-practice group w/ iGiraffe has an affiliated Street Giraffes blog — which also serves as a cache of heuristic materials for further, self-discovered, self-appropriated exploration.  The intention of both the blog and group format is to blend complementary modalities, such as interweaving Focusing & Mindfulness, towards the end of each having an opportunity to carve out their own, individuated path (as an NVC practitioner).

Streetify & Naturalizing

Please click here to learn more.

And feel free to email me at:

streetgiraffes@gmail.com

(with any questions you may have)

By McKay Savage from London, UK

&/or follow us via social media:

 @streetgiraffes

Facebook.com/streetgiraffes

#NVCpractices

#streetgiraffes

A giraffe at Giraffe Manor, Nairobi, Kenya
by Push the button

Video via Marianne Van Dijk – Cup of Empathy/YouTube Channel

• What is working about your [NVC/dialogic] practice?
• What gets in the way of communicating mindfully?
• What is your vision for speaking & listening with equanimity/presence?
• What next step(s) can you take to enhance the quality of connection you seek?

Handy Handouts | Street Giraffes

Kate Raffin  – On Flowers, Tears and Lightbulbs
“Balancing my yearning to grow with acceptance of who I am right now”

Kate’s Giraffe Journal

ZENVC’s iGiraffe

Our Toolbox

(Minnesota State Capitol Woodworkers Toolbox Historical Society)

‘An NVC practice as dustpan & brush…’
– Kit Miller 

Composting from the grist of our everyday lives

Other NVC Learning Venues
Practice Groups | CNVC
Online practice groups | CNVC
Compassionate Leadership Free Teleclass
Fearless Heart Teleseminars (see more)
Ongo Online Retreat: The Practice of Everyday Life – ZENVC
Kinyon’s free online Mediate Your Life practice group

(Via Wiki: Giraffe on the Masai Mara by Richard Rhee)

Say What You Mean
“If I had just one book to recommend about interpersonal communication, it would be this one.”
~ Rick Hanson, PhD

www.orenjaysofer.com/blog-index

&

Ike Lasater (at about the 7 minute mark, beneath): “And, of course, you can use these skills in your day to day life…We use mediation as the metaphor, but this is really about mediating your life:  how to go from the conflicts within your head, to conflicts with other people, to supporting — by lending your skills — to people who are in conflict.”

The Three-Chair Model for Learning NVC [Mediation]:
Developing Capacity for Mindful Presence, Connection, and Skill with NVC

By Ike Lasater & John Kinyon
With Julie Stiles

Excerpt:  Conclusion

“…We find the three-chair model to be a powerful pedagogical tool that goes beyond people simply learning conflict resolution skills. It provides a unique way to practice with close in time feedback from a coach and others, it offers ample opportunity for personal growth, helps people integrate core NVC skills into their daily life, and supports the development of concrete mediation skills. As we have used this model over the course of years, we see the small shifts people make accumulate over time, fundamentally shifting their ability to be present and connect with themselves and others even in difficult conflictual situations. This gives us hope. With the looming crisis we see ahead—exponential population growth and climate change resulting in huge dislocations of people, all greater stimulus for conflict—we would like people to be able to cope more effectively with whatever lies in the future, collectively and individually. For us, NVC and the three-chair model provide a strategy for people to integrate skills into their lives that allow them to learn a whole new way of being and be agents for the creation of the kind of world that they want to live in.”

John Kinyon’s

3Chairs Project for Difficult Conversations That Change Our World

Vision & Mission

The vision of the 3Chairs Project is a critical mass of people around the world working together to respond to the challenges we face, and creating a peaceful, healthy, and sustainable world.

The mission of the project is people having difficult and important conversations — personal, work, political — using a “3 chairs” structure and process that brings mindful awareness, compassion and collaboration to these conversations. It’s about hearing and understanding each other in our differences and our pain, without needing to agree, and connecting at the level of our shared humanity to contribute to one another’s well being. It’s about having conversations that change us, that create the life and relationships we want, and that move us toward the world we envision…

John Kinyon’s Monthly free online Mediate Your Life practice group

Monthly free online Mediate Your Life practice group with John Kinyon. First Fridays of the month (unless otherwise posted), 12-1pm Pacific. All are welcome, regardless of experience with NVC or Mediate Your Life training. The sessions include: Q&A, demonstrations, and information about Compassionate Communication/Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and Mediate Your Life training… (continues)

John Kinyon, “Three chairs can change your life…”

François Barraud – La Tailleuse de Soupe

Taking the Third Chair – Mediate Your Life

Excerpt (via John Kinyon):  “Three chairs can change your life.  In the world of professional dispute resolution, the three chairs represent two disputants and a mediator.  In our Mediate Your Life training, you learn to ‘take the third chair.’  From this perspective, you perceive a different reality.  You become more centered and effective in responding to life’s challenges and conflicts…. Seeing the situation from the third chair can be very difficult.  Although obvious and simple at one level, the shift in perspective is a radical one that goes deeper and deeper.  I have at times found it quite challenging — and also extremely valuable — to live this out in my own life…” (continues)

See also:  The Self-Connection Process and “Taking the 3rd Chair” in Difficult Conversations – by John Kinyon

5 Steps of NVC-Mediation – by Ike Lasater

Essay by Ike Lasater:
What is NVC Mediation? A Powerful Model for Healing and Reconciling Conflict

Lasater, “To be a human being is to regularly be in conflict with oneself and others…” (continues)

Ike & John’s Approach to NVC Mediation

9 Skills of NVC-Mediation – by Ike Lasater

John Kinyon on NVC-Mediation

Additional videos:  MediateYourLife

Muhammad Mahdi Karim

Whether you may be interested in learning more through a one-on-one conversation, or possibly even getting a sense of how NVC Mediation works in practice, please feel free to send an email to me so that we might set up a time to speak.

Free Consultation:  Contact Us Here

Three Peasants in Conversation by  Albrecht Dürer

 

More … @MediateOnesLifeCredit:  Meu

Several mediators that I would recommend:

Godfrey Spencer

Aya Caspi

Glyn Conlon

Kate Raffin

Our referrals for mediation &/or mentoring/coaching are logistically feasible through phone/Skype, however you might also find mediators locally through contacting CNVC or Mediate Your Life directly.

Additional Resources:

CNVC certified trainers (directory) | The Center for Nonviolent Communication

About Mediate Your Life Training – Founders/Blog/Handouts

By Roberto D’Angelo (roberdan) via Wikimedia Commons

Lastly, I intend to occasionally write @StDispatches blog entries detailing my own, more idiosyncratic ‘experiments with truth’ — a kind of #MediateOnesLife diary — which will blend my experiences as a street giraffe practitioner with other, more personal-as-political preoccupations.  I’ll post a link to the first entry here, shortly.

By Schnobby via Wikimedia Commons

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