Reframing is one of the most practical and easy to use NLP tools. If you look at the picture below, you may see an old lady or a young girl. It depends on where you focus your attention. The principle of reframing is the same – you look at something that makes you feel bad and find another angle, or another point of focus, which will change your response just as dramatically as turning an old lady into a young girl.
When I do reframing for myself, I use journaling. I put my pen on the paper and let it run without holding it back. I found out that the part of me that burst out when I write spontaneously is very good at finding different ways of looking at the same situation.
Here is one example. I used to feel intimidated by people, whom I perceived as more confident, more eloquent, more successful, more talented and better looking. Then I wrote the following reframe.
“ It is not about being better than other people. It is not about comparing or competing. We all are part of the collective consciousness. We all hold pieces of the puzzle. So what if we start focusing on discovering our gifts, growing them and finding our unique way of bringing them out into the world. So instead of comparing myself to others, I can start teaming up with those who can help me nurture, develop and express my gifts. And I can start helping others grow their gifts. We all have our gifts. And we are on different stages of blossoming. Learning from each other, helping each other, being with those who value and nurture our gifts is a much better plan than feeling bad, because someone is blossoming, while you are only budding.”
To practice reframing, pick up something that makes you feel bad. See how many new ways of looking at the same situation you can find and how many more pleasant and fun feelings you can create.