Acquired Spontaneity

Thoughts and practices for personal and social transformation

Miki Kashtan Ph.D.

Transforming the Social Order Through Personal Practice?

Is it possible to liberate our consciousness, through individual practice alone, from the training we receive that embeds us in existing systems? This is part 4 of a five-part series on nonviolent communication.

Transforming the Social Order Through Personal Practice? (2)

Is it possible to liberate our consciousness through individual practice alone from the training we receive that embeds us in existing systems?

Transforming the Social Order Through Personal Practice? (3)

Is it possible to liberate our consciousness, through individual practice alone, from the training we receive that embeds us in existing systems? Read on for part 3 of 5.

Sharing Impact for Liberation

Liberation from oppression is not a "have-to" thing; paradoxically, it is a path of agency and dignity.

Transforming the Social Order Through Personal Practice? (1)

Can nonviolent communication contribute to our collective ability to face and transform social conditions and systems, including capitalism? Read on for part 1 of 5.

The Powers No One Can Take Away from Us

In the midst of so much powerlessness and devastation, we have two powers no one can take away from us, even under extreme circumstances.

Restoring the Flow of Gifting in Community

An overarching principle within this community is to allow resources to flow from where they are to where they are needed. The result has been breathtaking.

Can We Un-Skew Resource Distribution?

We need to rediscover how to hold together a complex situation involving limited resources.

Core Nonviolence Commitments

Clarity came in the form of the Core Commitments—my best understanding of what it means to live a life of nonviolence and the foundation of a community for living it together.

Interdependence in Action

One key aspect of the conscious practice of interdependence is the quality of care that we bring to the moments in which we want to change agreements with others.

Increasing Prospects for Collaboration Even Before Starting

How do groups of individuals come into their own power and collectively manage to improve the conditions of their lives?

Matching Resources to Needs

My experience with a process designed to restore a flow of resources from where they exist to where they are needed, based on willingness.

Stepping Off the Line Into Freedom and Interdependence

Often enough, we cannot predict what the consequences might be, nor what our capacity to accept them is. Sometimes, we discover by doing.

Stepping Off the Line Into Freedom and Interdependence

One of the potent images of our modern, competitive era is that of a long line in which we are all trying to get ahead. We don’t choose this. We only choose how we relate to it.

Stepping Into Leadership

I cannot and don’t even have the aspiration to become perfect. I want to be fully free from the constant stress of “working on myself.”

Transcending Barriers while Life Meets Death

I was unexpectedly nourished by an email I received from someone who is consciously, purposefully trying to live applied NVC and Conflict Transformation in work and life.

#MeToo and Liberation for All

Most people seem to believe both that punishing men is successful at protecting and supporting women, and that nothing other than punishment could be. I question both.

Life, Interdependence, 
and the Pursuit of Meeting Needs

Reclaiming our innate capacity for receiving takes us on a journey of recognizing, accepting, and embracing our needs, and re-developing trust.

Nonviolence in the Face of Hatred

The practice of nonviolence begins precisely when our actions, words, or thoughts are not aligning with our commitment. Because our capacity often lags behind our commitment.

Moving from Fault to Cause

I am confident that fighting back, name calling, shaming, denouncing, and other similar tactics recently are feeding rather than quelling this upsurge of white supremacy.

Why Patriarchy Is Not About Men

I see this as the core source of violence: the physical, emotional, and spiritual brutalization of boys and men.

Addendum to Privilege, Responsibility, and Nonviolence

After posting my recent post, I received a comment that completely surprised me, in which I was challenged about what I thought was the opposite of what I said.

Privilege, Responsibility, and Nonviolence

When enhance my capacity to hear the contents of what people from marginalized groups share about their experiences, regardless of how it’s presented, two things happen.

Staying Open to Life despite Losses

In short, the practice of vulnerability has given me peace and less helplessness; it has given me more freedom to be myself in a simple way; and it has made me more accessible.

When Effects Are Invisible: From Comfort to Freedom

What is it that makes the existing global system continue to function with our ongoing participation, when so many of us know how close to the edge of catastrophe we are?

If I Were a Rich Man, the Inner Dimension

This is something all of us can do: align our actions with our values, even when it means stepping outside our comfort zone, and reaching out to others.

If I Were a Rich Man

If I truly want to be an agent of change in the direction of a world that works for all of life, I cannot do it alone.

Working for Change in a New Era, But How?

When we approach confrontation differently, I will then have more hope that miracles of transformation can happen.

Accountability, Love, Shame, and Working for Transformation

"I have more faith in actions that arise from a context of inner peace and acceptance than in actions that are fueled by fear and anger, the hallmarks of non-acceptance."

You’re Not a Bad Person: Facing Privilege Can Be Liberating

Time and time again, I notice just how simple and strong it is to own and acknowledge my privilege where I have it, and to do so without guilt and shame.

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