Reframing your language is more than putting a “positive spin” on your language and thinking. It’s about redirecting energy.
When you focus on something being difficult, bad, sad, or a problem, you’re essentially saying your circumstances are the way they are, will be, and you can’t do anything about it. This leads to being stuck.
When you reframe the same situation and can move your thinking from the “problem” to the opportunity for greatest impact, you can see what’s happening from the lens of what’s possible.
Seeing something as a problem means you’re viewing what’s possible based on what’s happened (and mostly your negative history) up until now. Seeing something as an opportunity means you’re considering what’s happened up until now and looking at what’s available going forward with an open mind.
Your creative mind, intuition, and intellect will support you either way. One direction will produce more of what you already have, cement your negative feelings, and reinforce your stagnancy. The other direction produces ideas, possibility, energy, and momentum.
Positive thinking is not what I’m talking about – that alone won’t do much other than make your language misalign with your mood and actions. It’s like putting whipped cream on a shit sandwich. It may initially look better, but it’s still a shit sandwich.
To reframe means you shift your thinking to reinforce where you haven’t been, not reinforcing what you already know. Your language and actions will naturally change once you’ve shifted your thinking, not the other way around.
As Henry Ford said “whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.”
Categories: Sue's Daily Blog
