Emo-Step® is one of the methodical mat processes that are usually performed on colored floor mats. They can be used to program the subconscious to a certain degree. Emo-Step® was developed by Gabriel Fritsch in 2008 and has since proven itself in countless coaching sessions. We would like to describe a short form here as the "Emergency Emo-Step®", because sometimes you are a little confused, stressed or turned off and all it takes is a little impulse to get you back on a constructive and visionary track. This Emo- Step® short form may not always help, but it usually does and in an emergency you always have one more card in the deck. Feelings begin as unconscious emotional impulses, which generally take effect more quickly than thoughts when problems arise and therefore fall back on the evolutionarily older areas of the brain, i.e. the brain stem and the limbic system. So not only will we hardly be able to prevent emotions with our thoughts, we will also find it difficult to change or direct them logically. Emotions, on the other hand, have a significant influence on our thoughts and sometimes drive them into a thought carousel. The neuronal system responsible for emotions cannot itself think logically and the cognitive center in the brain cannot feel. So how are they supposed to communicate with each other? Nevertheless, we suspect that if we go into a meeting with fear, defiance and indignation, we won't have the best fuel in the tank. So what can we do? Because even if strong emotions are vital for non- thinking creatures, they are often a problem for a thinking being. Emotions are vitality, but if our vitality works against our goals, this is unfavorable. Freedom therefore means the possibility of being able to change one's own emotions logically. The solution for life-serving emotional reprogramming lies quite simply in rapidly changing emotional experiences in a playful setting. We place three doormats, sheets of paper, advertising brochures or something else on the floor, as shown in the graphic. If we don't have anything to hand, we look for tiles or simply imagine the three Emo-Step® mats. We start at the central yellow position. Here we are not feeling, just observing, and from here we switch between the two emotional experience mats left/blue and right/orange, on which we then feel. This gives us our setting for an alternating emotional experience with regard to exactly one problem. We think about what the core of the problem could be that is causing these unpleasant feelings in us. First we go to the left side, to the blue experience mat. There we experience the emotions that we feel automatically in relation to our problem. They have arisen from what we have experienced so far and with them we now look ahead to what still lies ahead of us. Here we briefly experience how we feel in this position and then step back onto the yellow mat. (So that you know what you are feeling, you can read through the list of feelings in classic non-violent communication . You will immediately notice which words resonate with you). Every emotion manages certain behavioral options. With anger, we can shout at someone or hold back with difficulty. We can also pull down the corners of our mouth and furrow our brow. What we find more difficult, however, is to smile, show humor, remain open and hug someone. But what if the behavioral options available to us because of our negative feelings are unlikely to get us where we want to go? Do we then prefer to stay true to our emotions or our goals? In other words, do we remain true to ourselves if we remain stuck in the emotional dead end while defiance, shame, rebellion, melancholy, anger or fears prompt all kinds of foolishness, or do we remain true to ourselves if we consistently pursue our visionary path? That is what we need to test out. To do this, we need the orange Emo-Step® mat on the right. This stands for positive emotions such as courage, confidence, openness and warmth, lightness, willpower, etc. Think about which feelings and qualities would help you to reach your maximum potential in relation to the problem and then stand on them. We only stay on this right mat for a short time and then switch back to the left/blue mat position via the central position. There we experience the initial state again. We think about the challenge ahead of us. How will we master it with these negative feelings? Then we switch back to the right/orange position via the central yellow position and feel what is possible for us with these positive feelings. We repeat this several times. Ideally, the limbic system will switch to the better emotions because this directly experienced comparison makes us prefer to rely on them rather than on the old impulses. True to the motto: if we are already in external difficulties, we don't need emotional chaos on the inside. One of these problems is superfluous and you can guess which one it might be. We can also ask ourselves whether our problem is a dangerous or just an unpleasant situation. Many things may feel dangerous, but our life and limb are not in danger. We then also know whether we need to reach for the bottom drawer of behavior to defend our body and life with claws and teeth. After all, in a difficult meeting with disagreeable colleagues or a risky large group presentation, it would of course make no sense at all to act like Rambo just because our emotions have mistakenly loaded the armor-piercing ammunition into the magazine and not the confetti. With gentleness, patience and persistence, we will make good progress in 99% of cases, as the challenges are rarely dangerous, but mostly just unpleasant. And if things don't work out, good feelings are better than bad ones. With Emo-Step®, we give the limbic system the chance to organize itself intelligently by alternately experiencing two different emotional options with regard to the challenge. After four to eight mat changes, we realize that we no longer want to enter the left/blue position with the worse option. We feel a resistance that stems from the fact that our emotional control center wants to switch to the other side in order to channel the better feelings into the creative process. We then make two or three switches from left to right anyway, and the case is pretty much closed. The whole thing only takes a few minutes. The most difficult thing is to allow the positive emotions at the beginning so that you can experience them as an option, even if it seems "illogical". If that doesn't work, you would have to go deeper than this short form. That can happen and needn't worry anyone. Instead of Emo-Step, take three deep breaths, think of someone you really like, promise yourself something nice as a reward afterwards - if you like, say a prayer - and off you go. You are also welcome to contact us in confidence.