Arguing can be like being on a faulty telephone line: you say one thing, the other person hears another, there is a lot of static and miscommunication, and before you know it, you’re hanging up in an icy silence.

However, Non-violent Communication aims to change the way we relate to each other.

"The way most people have learned to communicate is not very effective in resolving conflict and getting our needs met," says Dorset Campbell-Ross, an NVC trainer.

"The ideal of NVC is to get your own needs met, while also meeting someone else’s needs.” In simple terms, the NVC system offers a resolution to arguments, where everyone ends up feeling like a winner.

NVC was founded by clinical psychologist Dr Marshall Rosenberg, whose desire to provide an alternative to the racially motivated violence he saw growing up in Detroit, Michigan, drove him to create an entirely new system of conflict resolution.

Wired For Kindness

Can you recall a time somebody was kind to you?

Now change the scenario and think of a time you were kind to another person? Call to mind their reaction and how you responded.

Move into your heart and notice the feelings there.

If you read no further than this point, you know that kindness affects the user and the experiencer – leaving a lasting impression.

In this fast pace world, kindness and compassion takes a back seat to selfies, self-interest and expendable human interactions.

Every person is waiting to be discovered or become rich, believing that holds the key to their happiness. Yet when they attain success, they long for their former life having underestimated the trappings of fame and celebrity.

I enjoy this quote by Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics, David W. Orr:

"The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these qualities have little to do with success as we have defined it."