The Work of Tracy Seed

What happens when communication becomes more than exchanging information?

In workplaces, many difficult conversations aren't really about the words being spoken.

They can involve unmet needs for respect, recognition, clarity, autonomy, trust or collaboration.

Nonviolent Communication offers a practical framework for becoming more aware of what is happening beneath the surface — while developing the ability to communicate honestly and listen empathically.

This can be particularly useful when:
• giving or receiving feedback
• expressing disagreement
• navigating conflict
• making requests
• working across differences
• responding when someone is upset or critical
• creating more collaborative relationships

I'm running two online NVC Level 1 Foundation trainings this autumn.
September: 6 Wednesday evenings, 23 September–28 October
October: 3 Sundays, 4–18 October

The training is suitable for people new to NVC as well as those wanting to refresh their foundations.
More information: https://tracyseed.com/events/

What if difficult conversations could become opportunities for connection?
Do you ever find yourself holding back what you really want to say because you're worried about upsetting someone?
Or saying yes when you really mean no?
Perhaps you become defensive when someone criticises you — or find yourself criticising someone else when you're frustrated.
Maybe you simply wish you could have difficult conversations without losing connection.
This is one of the reasons I love Nonviolent Communication.
NVC offers practical ways to bring more honesty, empathy, compassion and clarity into the conversations that matter to us.
It isn't about being nice all the time.
It's about learning how to stay connected while also being true to yourself.
I'm offering two online NVC Foundation trainings this autumn for people who are new to NVC or want to refresh their foundations.
🌿 September: 6 Wednesday evening sessions
23 September–28 October | 6:00–8:15pm
🌿 October: 3 Sunday sessions
4–18 October | 10:00am–2:00pm
The training is practical and experiential, with opportunities to practise with real-life situations, in pairs and small groups.
I'd love to welcome you.
Find out more and book:
https://tracyseed.com/events/

Grief gets treated like something has gone wrong with us.

We are asked how we are holding up, whether we are moving on, how long it has been. As if sorrow was a malfunction, and the repair is to feel less of it. Nonviolent Communication turns that around. Mourning is not a breakdown of the practice, it is part of the practice.

"We only grieve or mourn what we deeply care about"

Robert Gonzales spent his life on that ground. He was a certified trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication for decades, and he developed a body of work he called Living Compassion, an attempt to hold embodied spirituality and NVC as one thing rather than two.

We don't mourn something we are indifferent to. So whatever hurts most is standing exactly on top of what matters most, and staying with it a while is one way of finding out what that is.

Robert passed in November 2021. We hold his life's work with gratitude, decades spent helping people to meet the most tender places in themselves with compassion.

NVC Introductions - role playing all sorts of situations - exploring what empathy is and isn’t and expressing honesty with awareness of feelings and needs. This is some of what we did at the NVC Festival this weekend in Athens. Greece.