NVC Resources on Vulnerability
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Shared vulnerability can build more intimacy, mutuality, being seen and heard, empathy, or community. Inviting shared vulnerability means earning another’s trust that you can consistently offer attentive, curious, and compassionate listening. Here are four strategies to invite shared vulnerability.
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Build the capacity to choose vulnerability, deepen connection, and live with authenticity.
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Sharing more vulnerably provides opportunities for fulfilling connection. As social beings we rely on feedback to see our effect on others. We can get that feedback through body language, facial cues and words. To expand your capacity to share more vulnerably you can create supportive conditions and timing. You can ask for feedback by making in-the-moment requests of others and yourself before and after you share.
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Express feelings and needs clearly to foster connection and understanding.
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Does unworthiness keep you from expressing vulnerably and honestly? Afraid of being "found out?" Join CNVC Certified Trainer Arnina Kashtan as she explores this topic with a workshop participant to discern stories from needs, recognize the tension between self-acceptance and personal development and sit with the discomfort of self-acceptance.
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The pandemic has unsettled deep patterns of consumption. There’s a fear, and with it comes the mindset that is the heart of rampant consumption; habits which are essential to the market economy’s “economic recovery”. High consumption is also the most direct cause of environmental degradation. What do we need in order to significantly reduce consumption for our greater resilience and freedom, and to increase our planetary and human sustainability?
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What do you do when you are thinking that it's not "emotionally safe" to speak honestly? Join CNVC Certified Trainer Arnina Kashtan as she explores this topic with a workshop participant.
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Oren Jay Sofer shares how to stay present and grounded during difficult conversations, especially when we feel judged or criticized. He describes how awareness of bodily sensations—such as tension, trembling, or the urge to react—can help us channel our energy in a constructive way. Oren highlights the shift from focusing on others’ judgments to identifying our own feelings and needs, which restores clarity and empowerment. By learning these skills, we can transform reactive moments into opportunities for understanding, connection, and self-awareness.
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Trainer tip: Do you have behavioral patterns that block intimacy? When we are feeling our most vulnerable, we often want intimacy but also tend to keep it at bay. Acknowledge your need for intimacy, and find people you can trust to love you as you are.
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When we take a leap in life and put our hearts out into the world in new or bigger ways—sharing a song, dance, or poem, writing a book, competing at a sporting event, giving a speech, and so on—there is greater potential for aliveness but also for shame and pain
