Framing and Re-framing - "Shifting Our Perception"

Framing and Re-framing – “Shifting our Perception”

Framing is basically how we create the context of any given situation or idea that serves to organize not only “how” we look at it, but also what we see as a result, and how we feel about what we see. It usually “orientates” the experience we create with either a positive or negative format. How we look at it determines whether we see hope, possibilities and avenues that cause us to feel good, or whether or not it appears hopeless, scary and causes us to feel bad. Naturally one of the easiest ways of identifying “framing” styles or tendencies is through what we typically refer to as optimism or pessimism.
We typically have a preferred way of looking at things as a general attitude that then determines our approach, which we then simultaneously identify with. How we look at and approach things, first serve to express, then support, reinforce and validate . . . while simultaneously fashioning our identity. Our Identity is the main filter through which all of our self-expression and perceptions emerge naturally as a correspondence. When we walk into any situation, what is our tendency? Do we see the good, or the bad? Do we naturally see what is right and working well? Or do we see what is wrong and needs fixing? A more important question would be, what feeling does each ‘frame-of-mind’ cause or give us?
We don’t want to get caught up in the natural tendency to become side-tracked with endlessly explaining, or attempting to justify our right to be negative, pessimistic or “problem” oriented. All we want to notice is the feeling that we get based on our own perceptions, as well as the feelings we activate in others based on how we present or communicate ideas, recapture events, or by how we interact with and treat them as a result.
Basic human motivation is instinctual (largely unconscious) and subliminal. We do it automatically without direct awareness or a distinct thought process. We naturally move ‘towards’ what feels good, expanding, opening, relaxing and increasing – while moving ‘away’ from what feels bad, avoiding it, pulling back, stopping or becoming idle. What we focus on, give our attention to, feel and think about, we automatically begin developing into detailed scenarios in our imagination that we then run over and over in a compulsive manner. Our behavior stems unconsciously out of our feeling thoughts. We then create experiences that correspond to, or are of the same nature as what we have imagined. The imagination serves to create a concept as a believable reality that gives us a behavioral pattern to act it out and create an experience of it.
A good skill to practice, especially if you are in a position of leading, teaching, inspiring or developing others, is to take any subject and before you approach someone, ask yourself how you can present the idea or interact with them in a way that will produced the desired result. How can you approach what may be fundamentally negative in a positive way that will produce a positive feeling in the person your communicating with? How can you present something in a way that keeps the focus on the solution or what you want them to actually do, without pointing out a mistake or what they did wrong? Take any situation that has a negative feeling, and see if you can change your perspective and “reframe” it, or re-present it in a way that feels positive, or causes them to feel optimistic.

Example:
- Instead of stating, you missed 5 out of a hundred, you say you got 95 correct out of a possible hundred.
- Original statement: 10% of all people in California are unemployed. Reframe: 90% of all the people in California are currently employed!
- If you see an employee doing something wrong: Instead of pointing out and talking about the problem or mistake and then asking who trained them (smile). . . . simply offer to show them how to do it the right way, and see it as an opportunity to build a relationship with them that involves a sense of trust and comradely.

Linda Gadbois, Ph.D., CCHt., RMT – Is a professional Educator, Trainer, Mentor Consultant and Counselor. She specializes in Conscious Creation, Creativity, Business Psychology, Behavioral modification, Personal Transformation, Organizational Change, Communication and Leadership skills.
Linda@creativetransformations.com
www.creativetransformations.com
www.lindagadbois.com
(303) 816-1460
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