This is an empathy-first, NVC-inspired tool to help you quickly and safely surface issues that have been weakening trust, so they don’t build up into unspoken resentments.

We invite empathy by sharing the deeply-held values and needs behind our tensions while temporarily holding back on the specifics of our complaint (as a first step in preparation for going deeper, once trust has been built through empathetic listening).

The circuit works by using a strong filter (general and positive language only) to protect the listener from feeling blame and to invite them to hear us in light of our values and needs.

It has three parts: Structured Statements, Trust-Sized Requests, and Mirroring.