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Xylanthius wrote (edited )

Thruought my life I have learned that having needs is "bad" and that being "needy" is a "bad" and "annoying" thing. Because of that, I have learned to deny my own needs. When I deny my needs I experience an overwhelming amount of uncomfortable feelings which drugs and addictive behavior seem to be the only successful freeing agent.

I'm learning now that needs are a gift, and feelings are a guide to learn about what my needs are.

I'm learning the magic of nonviolent communication. I've only been studying it for a little while, but it's already helped relieve me from a lot of the usual suffering. It's really amazing and empowering stuff.

A lot of our experience of reality stems from our interpretation of it. Our experience is also comprised of the people we bring into our world which validate our own perceptions of our reality. If we think that our needs are not important then we bring people into our lives that validate that reality that they are not important.

Most of us don't know what our actual needs are. It's not like the adults ever taught us.

Empathy is a skill that you have to practice in order to get good at it.

The only way to find peace in this reality is through love and empathy.

Violence and violent communication can never solve our problems especially because our side does not have a monopoly on it. It simply leads to more harm, hurt, and violence.

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