I recently completed a weekend course in Non Violent Communication.

It was a deeply enriching weekend of self-discovery and learning. I came away with a multitude of tools to use with friends, families, partners and colleagues when confronted with conflict.

However, after the benefit of a few weeks distance, I've found the most lingering memory was the final exercise we were asked to complete.

Standing in front of one of the other participants, we guided one another in a 30-40 minute journey into a personal conflict taking place in our lives. For me, this brought an emotional overload and I began to cry in front of the others in our group, something I never would have imagined would be possible for me going into the weekend. I then guided a woman who was dealing with an impending potential marital breakdown through her feelings and needs related to it. We held eye contact for effectively the entire time, which felt like it tied us to one another in a way that mere words could not.

Upon reflecting, what I'm holding on to is the connection that the workshop forced me to engage in. I found that I avoid these moments in my regular life because they feel uncomfortable, or scary. But once I dive in to them, they feel vital, and impossible to avoid. Connection feels good in a way disconnection feels isolating: hard to articulate, but vitally important to pay attention to.