Reframing is a way of changing the way you look at something and thus changing your experience of it.
Rummuser did a great job of reframing recently. In Tantalus he wrote about a week full of disappointments. In Little Bits Of Happiness (responding to tammy’s post of the same name), he says the disappointing week was a good reminder of how good his life usually is. It’s full of blessings. So the experience of the disappointment was changed — he had put it into perspective and it had a bigger meaning.
I’m a big fan of reframing. Sometimes I do it with positive statements and questions:
What’s the opportunity here?
How can I learn and grow from this?
How will this make a good blog post? (Yay, blogging!)
And if I’m hit with a big challenge, one I’m not too thrilled about, there is always my favorite prayer:
Thank You, Lord, for the opportunity. I sure hope You know what You’re doing!
A sense of humor never hurts.
What about you? Do you/how do you reframe in your life?
January 24, 2015
It looks as though I don’t need to does it not? One bad week, and a friend shakes me out of my blues and I take a fresh look! Synchronicity?
The fresh look is the result of reframing. It sounds as if you don’t understand how the change happened?
very interesting! reframing.
the first half of my life i was constantly reframing. large and small.
i’m thinking now not in terms of reframing perhaps . . . though i like that concept.
for me in this last half of my life . . . it’s more of learning and loving just . . .
going with the flow.
yes. for me i like that better. LOL! less effort involved perhaps.
so . . . going with the flow. but in a new frame? LOL
HA! have i totally lost the point here somewhere? 😀
The term “go with the flow” makes me nervous. Please wear a helmet and a life preserver! Waterfalls do happen, Dear Heart. We can’t always avoid them, but sometimes it helps to pay attention ahead of time.
Reframing? Oh my god. Reminds me of “reinventing” oneself. A concept I haven’t understood to this day. Why would I wish to reinvent myself? I am not some sculpture or mechanism in constant need of tweaking.
You often mention “what’s the opportunity here?”, “how can I learn from this and grow?”. Let’s leave aside that I find those particular questions mercenary – and often totally impracticable. When you are in the thick of what life throws at you (good and bad) you hardly go into scientific mode analyzing “opportunity”, “how can I grow and learn from this”. Like Tammy I believe it better to go with the flow and not observe yourself all the time. If and when life wants to teach us a lesson I am sure it’s perfectly able to do so without constant supervision and us monitoring our navel.
U
Yay, Ursula! You never disappoint. Yes, I cheerfully admit my approach to life is more creative than yours is. Not better. Not worse. Just different.
Yay, differences! Yay, happiness!
I use re-framing.
Usually it starts with ‘taking a step back from the situation’.
Yep. Stepping back and not only looking at the situation but at our feelings, how our bodies are reacting to it. And then choosing our response.
I would mix it up – depending on the situation
If I thought I really needed to solve it for whatever use, I would do that…but nowadays I often just bin or shelf it AND get on with what is VIP or can be dealt to easily.
Why complicate matters…the journey will continue whether it is done or not done
Yes, choosing how we spend our time and attention makes a big difference.