March 27, 2014

Dear ,

For the last few weeks I have felt like a pregnant woman who just can't wait to give birth. Now I suddenly find I am giving birth to triplets!

One: This week!

Two: On April 4^th, my first book, Spinning Threads of Radical Aliveness: Transcending the Legacy of Separation in Our Individual Lives, goes on sale. If you want to get it, please do in the first week - that will help create a buzz for it. We'll send you the link April 4.

 

Later this year I have two more books that are already in production. I am also working on preparing a major multimedia self-study course that will allow my teaching to travel anywhere without me. As to travel, this year my teaching takes me to China, Europe and several US states. Those and other events are described below.

Yes, I am already committed to gifting much. Still, my long-term dream is to gift all of my live teaching and facilitation, to everyone, not just those who can pay for it. This would be a perfect microcosm of the world I am working towards, where all we do is in direct service of attending to needs, and we all trust that our own needs matter and are likely to be attended to. It might seem like a crazy dream to reconfigure our work that way now, in the midst of the almighty market. I will confess to being a dreamer, and, in the old words, "I'm not the only one." There is a growing movement towards a gift economy. In the information technology world, in particular, what is now known as the "sharing economy." One way to enact this dream is when people who appreciate what an individual or an organization does give them a small sum every month to enable them to gift their work to the world. That's how our local radio station KPFA works, and how some artists are starting to live.

I would like to move in that direction myself. I know that the greatest asset I have in terms of supporting what I do is the many, many people whose lives have been tangibly transformed by this work, and who have allowed themselves to expand their own dreams for themselves and the world. If you are one of those people, would you join the Circle of Support that I am forming? It will enable me to work in a more balanced way, and dedicate more of my attention to the deepest passions I have - writing, developing new methods of working with organizations, figuring out how nonviolence can help reach a tipping point - while sustaining the livelihoods of those who work with me in service of our shared dreams. If you would like to help me, it could begin to happen, now.

Here are the steps I am taking now:

1. When my Fearless Heart teleseminars launch again next month, I am offering them as a pure gift, without any request or way for participants to pay, now or ever. So please join us! You will only need to join once, and you will get materials and invitations for all upcoming teleseminars until you no longer want them.  Click here to learn more and register. 
2. I am also inviting you, whether or not you ever attend any of these teleseminars, to join my Circle of Support that will make it possible for me to gift this offering and more and more of my work over time.

The Circle of Support is the main message of this letter, and I go into details here about the misunderstandings some have about my income, about some things I already give away, and the other ways I am working to fund them, all as a background to explaining my vision for the Circle of Support - which I can imagine as ultimately hundreds or thousands of people, each giving from as little as $5 per month, knowing there are those who can give hundreds or even thousands every month.

If you want to read about what I've been doing since the last newsletter, click here.

As I embark on this experiment, I know that the less overlap there is between the two groups - those who come to the teleseminars, and those who join the circle of support - the more I know that my invitation is taken seriously and trusted, and the closer I feel to the dream of a worldwide gift economy, where resources are shared based on what is wanted and what is being offered on the basis of pure willingness, without any coercion or incentive. I hope with this letter to move several steps closer to this dream in my own small sphere. 

In hope and peace,

Miki Kashtan

West Coast: Monthly Full-Day Workshops  

Next three dates: April 26 (to be finalized), May 18, June 29 

Leveraging Your Influence (LYI) is a mutually supportive learning community, co-created by Miki and participants to integrate the consciousness of NVC more deeply, more spontaneously, and more authentically into our everyday language and lives.  Register here for 2014 - we have only a few slots available at this point.

East Coast: Two Retreats in 2014

April 4-10 and November 7-13, at The Abode, New Lebanon, NY

Register here for April

 7-day retreat: July 3-10, 2014 

in Calistoga, California, USA

See details and register here 

Once you know NVC, it's hard not to notice where it's absent and could make a significant difference.  If you are inspired to bring NVC into your corner of the world -- and to do it effectively and sustainably -- join us for Miki's last co-led retreat in the foreseeable future.  With her colleagues, Fran�ois Beausoleil and Jeff Brown, she will share the most relevant, clear, and practical approach to exponentially bring NVC to the world in such a way that you can all thrive while doing it! 

 6 half-day workshops over 3 days, Friday - Sunday, March 28-30

 Register here

Help with "Making Life Work" 

Thank you SO MUCH to those who responded to our last newsletter's request for help with preparing Miki's Making Life Work audio for global sale and distribution (described above.) 

Now we have another request, for one individual:

• Someone who would be willing to read each booklet and check through the audio and the video associated with it, and create some kind of a cross reference, so that in the booklet we could insert, in the correct places, suggested tracks in the audio or video to complement the writing. This needs to be done six times for the six parts of the course.
• This needs to be someone who is familiar with Miki's work and approach to NVC.  

If you are interested, please email mkashtan@baynvc.org.

The Great March for Climate Action 

Miki and BayNVC colleague Lynda Smith went to LA for two days of training and teaching and one day of marching with this group. You can join the march at any time: check here where they will be when. 

The Great March for Climate Action is a non-profit mobile community of hundreds of climate-concerned volunteers who will march on a shoestring from Los Angeles to Washington DC.  

The March seeks to create a human network of united autonomous members to provide climate change action resources to build a truly powerful voice to change how our society approaches these impending climate challenges. One of the primary principles embodied by all Climate Marchers and their supporters is the practice of nonviolent communication and action throughout the course of the journey. 

Join Campaign Nonviolence! 

How? By studying the principles and methods of nonviolence. By sharing the stories of nonviolence. By striving to live nonviolence. By building the means of nonviolence. And by taking nonviolence public: in our neighborhoods, schools, religious communities, organizations, cities, and societies. Sign the Campaign Nonviolence Pledge today!

Started by our friends at Pace e Bene, the campaign welcomes everyone. 

Join Miki to discuss issues raised in your life and work by recent posts on her blog, The Fearless Heart. The new Sunday time will enable people in some other countries to join. After a break while the new website was prepared,  Miki is back with regular blog posts. Her first is a glimpse into her vision of a gift economy. Money can't buy you love or measure how well everyone's needs are  met: in fact it serves to mask how many needs our high consumption economy fails to meet.  Info about the seminars.