I recently started reading about non violent communication, and this is a big tenet from what I gather. Affirmatively communicate your feelings and your needs.

I found there are two difficult aspects to this: clearly defining the relationship from feelings -> needs (many examples in the book of this, and how people twist words when asked to describe what other people do that they don’t like), and avoiding specific language mannerisms I’ve grown used to but recognize as following negative patterns.

I found the approach helpful when I tried using it during some emotionally tense situations.