Wise Speech Going Forth

From Seamus Heaney’s The Cure at Troy — words that I hope might buoy your spirits when seemingly beyond consolation in your efforts to effect great change.

“Human beings suffer,
They torture one another,
They get hurt and get hard….”

Not quite two years ago, I once again felt that clarion call to be “an upstander.” In 2015 I had bowed out of a 22-year journey of speaking up about Unitarian Universalist clergy sexual misconduct. By then all signs were (and still are, to my knowledge) that the denomination was at last truly headed in […]

The central insight of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is its focus on universal human needs. But what are basic needs? For those new to NVC, it’s often difficult to distinguish fundamental needs from emotions, judgments, and strategies. As a result, a list of needs can be particularly helpful in understanding and practicing NVC. If there’s one […]

“Online, we’ve got a compassion deficit, an empathy crisis…. We need to communicate online with compassion, consume news with compassion and click with compassion.” ~ Monica Lewinksy in a 2015 TED Talk

In June, Gil Fronsdal (a revered Buddhist teacher and scholar) gave a dharma talk on “Speaking as a Gift.” Since then, I’ve been experimenting with it — and have found that framing my words as gifts has been one of the most helpful strategies for Wise Speech I’ve ever encountered.