During the COVID-19 crisis, I spent entire days at home working on my MacBook. There were weeks when I hardly left the house and had contact with almost no one besides my children, my partner, and some colleagues. It was cozy in a way, but the world became very small.
What I regret when looking back on these years is that I have become more distant from other people. For instance, I lost a friendship because we were no longer able to connect, despite all the nonviolent communication. But I also feel more distant from people I don’t really know—the people on the street and in the neighborhood. Perhaps you have had similar experiences. I have the impression that we have started living past each other more in our (social media) bubbles with our own truths and enemy images. It seems as though polarization in society has deepened and hit closer to home.
De Vrijman Meeting Place
When you are no longer allowed in the gym, the theater, or restaurants. When everyone wears a face mask on the tram and in the supermarket and you have to keep your distance everywhere. When you can no longer have small talk with strangers on the street. How do you then make contact with one another? How can you remain empathetic toward people you don’t meet, who may be different and think differently than you? Connecting with your neighbors is so important for your sense of connection, safety, and belonging.
With this thought in mind, we started De Vrijman. De Vrijman is a meeting place for reflection, connection, and inspiration by and for residents of IJburg in Amsterdam. We offer various activities such as Yoga, Tai Chi, and breathwork classes, and I personally provide the Mindfulness and Nonviolent Communication training from Equanimity. Furthermore, we organize film nights, dialogue meetings, retreat days, meditations, constellations, and much more. We invite other local residents to also organize and try out activities. These initiatives are given the opportunity to take shape, grow, and take flight. In this way, space is continually created in De Vrijman for new initiatives, and much beauty has already emerged on IJburg.
Nonviolent communication and Mindfulness in De Vrijman
I see great value in Nonviolent communication and Mindfulness for how we interact with each other in the neighborhood and in society. It gives me great pleasure to see people from completely different backgrounds and perspectives attending my training sessions in De Vrijman. In this way, I hope to contribute to bringing people closer together. Would you also like to participate in a Nonviolent (connective) communication or Mindfulness training? Please check the schedule here.
More information about and the calendar for all activities at De Vrijman can be found here:
http://www.devrijman.nl
https://www.instagram.com/devrijman/
https://www.facebook.com/devrijman