Resources | Catherine Hajnal

I’m a life longer learner, ever evolving, always curious. As I mention in my video on the Home page, much of what I share today through my work has its seeds in my personal lived experiences.

For example I was wanting to understand my emotions – where they were coming from and what could I do with them.

In that exploration I discovered the world of Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB). Learning about my brain and the mind body connection was incredibly helpful to me. I can now stop beating up on myself for being human!

Part of understanding and appreciating my emotions also came when I tapped into Non-Violent Communication. (NVC) Guess what? Everything we do is based in wanting to meet needs. When our needs are met we’ll experience one set of feelings. When are needs are not met, we’ll likely experience another. Understanding the needs as drivers in my own life again gave me a way to hold myself and others more gently. Listening and empathy are at the core of NVC. Beautiful!

Holding myself more gently also meant honoring my story, my experiences. Yes, there were things that hadn’t worked out as planned. I started off as seeing that as failure – coming from the voice of “There is something wrong with me,” or of “I am no enough.” It sure helped to reframe some of those stories, to connect with my needs and humanness as I mentioned above and to connect with the sense of loss that was present. I discovered the value in acknowledging losses, in stepping into the process of grieving, and mourning. (On that page you’ll find a variety of launch points for the exploration of loss and grief in general and then in the specific context of the workplace as well.)

So now I pull all of these pieces (and many more!) together to create my offerings for you. Here are some examples of my work.