Describing
When researching what one responds to or not, it initially helps to name which observations are the starting point for all the following steps (“Oh, I see that my colleague has not kept to the delivery date!”). This statement describes a part of that which could be perceived and investigated in this connection (so, for example, not “Oh, the colleague has a sick wife at home!” or “Oh, I have just remembered that Mueller told me, he doesn’t think much of me!”). One can recognise a description by the fact that, as a description, it is not automatically linked to a reaction, or demands one (“I will strangle him!”). It helps to view the situation, it allows space to add more of one’s own descriptions and it allows for the option to ask other people for their descriptions. The more varied the description of a situation, the more unlikely it is that an affect comes into play immediately and exclusively. Viewing and describing have a potential for reassurance. Particularly in counselling situations, in which many affects are at play, it is, therefore, useful to first of all allow them to describe exactly which phenomena have been perceived (and what has been overlooked, overheard, blocked out or just ignored).