During a follow-up session, Marijke invited a ‘visual harvester’ who experienced and captured the workshop in a very unique way.
Keen observation
An ‘unraveler’ is how Anje Claeys describes herself. And that fits remarkably well with what she does as a visual harvester. She records messages in a professional manner. Highly visual, lightning-fast, concise. Straight to the essence. Anje was enthusiastic about attending a nonviolent communication training, and the output of her observations was particularly striking. Anje carries out her work in silence, like a fly on the wall: “I don’t say much. I observe, listen, look, and draw, paint, or doodle something on paper.” But her talent for observation must be her most important tool. “Insights grow minute by minute. I draw a line, I write a word, I add something, I look back, I see connections.”
Straight to the essence
Anje follows the workshop attentively: “Through role-plays and exercises, after a check-in, we go into depth in a very natural and playful way. Insights grow minute by minute.” And Anje extracts the things she finds enlightening: “When we speak from the facts, sinking into our feelings and grounding ourselves in our values and needs, something remarkable happens. The tension disappears like snow in the sun. Understanding and empathy arise.” And with that, she immediately captures one of the most important effects of nonviolent communication.
The metaphors of nonviolent communication
Anje’s drawings are not only beautiful but also surprisingly meaningful. For instance, Anje sketches a giraffe, the symbol for nonviolent communication. That metaphor works something like this: “Surveying the whole, calmly nibbling on words, appreciating gently, setting boundaries with understanding, speaking soothingly. Bravely daring to raise sensitive issues, putting the tensions on the table.” Indeed, daring to speak out about what is bothering you, but from your feelings and values. Anje also finds a striking image for the four steps of nonviolent communication – observation, feeling, need, and request – which she decides to create for each participant in the workshop. As a souvenir or ‘anchor’ for the successful training.
Intense, profound, and effective model
Anje also made that memento to prevent us from falling back into our old ruts, she says herself. Because all too often we interpret facts and reactions from our own perspective, and that causes tension and harsh judgments. In the role-play, the workshop participants find a way to deal with differing opinions. “What if we explore the underlying needs behind every ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘maybe’, ‘I don’t know’? What if we take all those needs into account and together look for a rich strategy that everyone can truly get behind?” During the workshop, Anje experiences firsthand how “intense, profound, and effective” the model of nonviolent communication really is.
