As a small feel-good gift at the end of the year, I am posting 24 mini-stories from users on our site today – and this is how it came about:
On the occasion of our 20th anniversary in 2025, I asked for feedback in my newsletter on October 16th, 2024 to get a better understanding of what has made the Gefühlsmonsters the important tool it is today. Among other things, I asked for users’ favorite stories.
What a profound joy it was to read these many stories (there were 88!), to imagine all these situations from the actual experience of the writers! At this point, a big, big thank you to everyone who was able to write and also to those who were unable to do so at the moment – you all support people in connecting and understanding themselves better through the Gefühlsmonsters!
We were so delighted by what we read, that my colleague Antje Vorndran came up with the idea of publishing 24 stories as an advent calendar on Instagram. Insa Nagel, our newest and youngest employee, then took on the difficult task of selecting these 24 stories, and our social media expert Sylvia da Silvy Porfirio designed the calendar’s cover pictures, which are quite delightful, using elements from our Christmas postcards and Christmas symbols. You can see them all on Instagram
Here they are for anyone who couldn’t see them on Instagram! Be prepared for the fact that they are written by a wide range of different people in a wide range of different situations, and very short…
My best experience with the Gefühlsmonsters…
1. a very taciturn family in which feelings are rarely discussed managed to use the Monsters to communicate how they are doing with a problem and that it is important to them that they can work through it together.
2. In a small team that was very conflict-prone, it was possible to describe one’s own feelings and to perceive and acknowledge the feelings of others. This led to a deeper mutual understanding and thus made it possible to create a more relaxed atmosphere.
3. After the cards were put on the board, the children immediately gathered around it and showed each other their favorite cards. “Mom, look!” “These are the Gefühlsmonsters cards…”
4. A young father who was only allowed to see his son once a month was able to use the Gefühlsmonsters to represent his emotional chaos and thus became calmer.
5. … when a client realized that Monster No. 13 (which she understood as her personal defense mechanism) invites her domineering boss to trample on her. She was stunned and subsequently changed her own behavior (set boundaries).
6. We had a boy in the daycare who very often showed aggressive behavior towards the other children. He hit, spat and looked unhappy. He hardly ever spoke to me. Until the first yoga class with me. He drew the card with the Gefühlsmonster hiding under the carpet. He didn’t say anything about it, but I asked him and he nodded. Yes, he is afraid. That’s how I got close to him. It was great and very touching.
7. … was that people started talking who didn’t want to talk to each other before.
8. The year in review with two cards (online workshop in German), one for the old year, one for the new year. I keep thinking about it because I find it so amazing how one Gefühlsmonster can carry a whole year “inside” and I’m looking forward to the next review.
9. Someone who was very sad smiled when choosing his Gefühlsmonster and said it made him feel better.
10. How I managed to help a (male) analytical person open a door to expressing his feelings, especially in his relationship. The ritual of laying cards on the table that spoke to him after his work day and talking about these cards made him more “tangible” for his partner.
11. Tears in the eyes of a participant and her whispered words: “Yes, that’s how I feel.” She felt understood and accepted.
12. A game in which I received a feeling card from my son: “What he always wanted to tell me.”
13. I had a conversation with my son-in-law in which he openly addressed the fact that he finds it difficult to talk about feelings. He was very aware that he was missing ‘something’. He looked at the different figures with great interest and it touched him.
14. … when my grief counseling child asked: Where are the monsters today?
15. Our three-year-old grandchild had to be with us because his mother was in the hospital. We were able to discuss her sadness with the monsters and see that sometimes you are sad and then happy again.
16. When my son had a breakdown and I was able to focus on positive goals with the Gefühlsmonsters.
17. A team that otherwise never talks about feelings and needs was able to exchange ideas about their week within half an hour; it was a fun, relaxed atmosphere, before that there was a silence.
18. A client who spontaneously and of her own accord decided to embrace her “unloved” feelings as well.
19. A reconciliation talk in the evening with my daughter when she was about 10 years old, and I looked at the Gefühlsmonster cards with her and was able to discuss with her how she and I felt after an event and what I associated with the feeling. We were then able to laugh about ourselves and go to bed feeling reconciled and at peace.
20. … when my friend and I did a reading of the Gefühlsmonster cards for a conflict and we were able to resolve our conflict and connect.
21. In individual case work, a child was able to show the feelings she felt when she thought about continuing her education. This was so different from the parents’ perception. By showing the monster, the parents were able to recognize it right away.
22. … when a non-verbal student with trisomy started taking the cards according to her feelings in the morning circle.
23. We spontaneously used the Gefühlsmonsters on New Year’s Eve before midnight to look back at the old year and make wishes for the new year. The whole family participated, from young to old – it was very touching and empowering, and everyone crossed over into the new year positively.
24. … when a sad and anxious pupil mistook the carpet under which the monster was hiding for a peace carpet. That made me laugh. Then, several children hid under the peace carpet, and their sadness and fear almost disappeared.
Well, did you perhaps find a favorite story of your own, or did the stories inspire you to try something new? Were you able to smile or share in the joy at one point or another?
Then you have experienced a little of what we are so often given: the confidence that understanding is possible, that sometimes it can be quite easy to establish a connection or an understanding.
I hope you have a great start to the New Year, full of good conversations with your loved ones and those around you, and full of good feelings!
With warm regards,
Lilli Höch-Corona
Berlin, December 30, 2024