Glossary

According to Anke Sommer, the positive side is the state in which you have a distance to all forms of violence. Characteristics of the positive side are inner peace, calmness and relaxation.

Keeping distance means being able to maintain the above-mentioned feelings and at the same time being able to perceive even strongly negative things from outside.

The positive side and feelings like anger, inner pain, suffering, shame, grief, frustration etc. do not fit together. This means that you do not perceive them on the positive side, simply because these feelings do not exist there.

This makes you very constructive. You do not serve negative states, but merely recognize that something has happened (historically) that once triggered these feelings. Consequently, you do not define yourself through these incidents or through the negative feelings, but take responsibility for them.

You do this by being able to act. From the outside, you will see that you are no longer part of negative cycles. Further you’ll recognise that your assumption of responsibility makes you aware that your negative feelings have a systemic origin.

If you are triggered by a current event, it is as if an old film that activates all the old feelings is jumping on. Use the positive side to recognize when old feelings are activated in you.

If you remain on the positive side, you can see that you can deal with this film. Here it is clear that it does not reflect your reality.

If you look at all the challenges in your life from such a distance, you will quickly notice that you perceive everything more intensely, have more strength for your present and are more cheerful overall.