🌿 Empathy in Action: Beyond Sorry

For more information: https://l2o2.org/

🌿 Empathy in Action: Beyond Sorry — From Automatic Apology to Conscious Repair

"Sorry" is a word many of us learn to say almost automatically.
💬 Sorry I'm late.
💬 Sorry I bothered you.
💬 Sorry for asking.

Sometimes "I'm sorry" carries real care. And sometimes it slips out before we've even noticed what we're feeling, what matters to us, or what we actually want to say.

This September, we're exploring something Marshall Rosenberg called giraffe mourning — a deeper alternative to conventional apology. Instead of deciding we were bad, wrong, or deserving of blame, we slow down and connect with what happened: the sadness of not showing up the way we wanted to, the needs that went unmet, the awareness of someone else's experience.

🦒 Rosenberg described this as a kind of "sweet pain" — feeling sad that we didn't meet our own need to show up with respect and understanding, without any story that we're a bad person for it.

It's not about finding better words to say instead of "sorry." It's about creating space for awareness and choice.
We'll be asking questions like:
🔄 Am I saying this automatically, or because I choose to?
💛 Am I trying to connect — or trying to make discomfort disappear?
🌱 What feelings and needs are underneath my regret?

🎭 What to expect: An introduction to core NVC concepts (observation, feelings, needs, requests), role-play exercises to practice this kind of repair in real scenarios, and a supportive space to try it imperfectly.

✨ No experience with NVC required. No perfect words needed. We're practicing together.