The flow of information in the modern world is urgent, endless, and global. But just as we’re getting our head around one thing, a new event, scandal, or revelation comes to light, causing the collective viewfinder to move on and shift its attention to the story of the day.

While the news seems to forget about yesterday’s happenings, each one leaves a deep-reaching residue on us as individuals. With no time to pause, breathe, and meaningfully process the stacking burden, the emotional toll increases. When you naturally process things at a deep level, the quick and heavy flow of information can quickly lead to overwhelm. There just isn’t the capacity to hold it all in healthy ways.

We will be asking, what kind of boundaries can we put in place in order to remain energised, enthusiastic, and engaged in a relentlessly noisy world?

We’ve all been told that good habits are the key to success and small things add up to become big changes over time. There are many ways to automate actions so that the thing that will lead you to the desired outcome eventually becomes the thing you do without thinking.

But some people seem to find it impossible to make habits stick. Maybe their brain just doesn’t seem to let them forge those neural pathways and doing ‘the right thing’ always requires willpower and choice. Others might become obsessively locked into habits, turning into robotic automatons that have lost the ability to be spontaneous and impulsive. And there are factors like creative flow, people-pleasing, mood shifts and a frazzled nervous system, that turn the pressure to maintain and avoid certain habits into a fight.

Do we need to see this as a battle? Or can we be more gentle with ourselves as we work out what we want to change and how we plan to change it?

Language is a double-edged sword. On the one side, it allows us to do and achieve immeasurably amazing things. On the other hand, it can drive conflict and cause great rifts in the heart of humanity. Marshall Rosenberg developed Non-Violent Communication inspired by work he did with civil rights activists and in supporting integration in schools.

The world is on fire right now when it comes to our ability to communicate. We have never been more connected, and yet we have never been worse at communicating. Conflict is often ignited by misunderstanding and miscommunication. And if we don’t have the tools to navigate conflict properly it leads to deeper division and a spirit of war.

How can we use Rosenberg’s work to communicate more effectively in our own lives? Drawing on humanising observations, feelings, needs, and requests, rather than dehumanising personal insults and violent language?