Practicing Positive Reframing

It's often impossible to change the things we don't like in our lives, but we can change the way we look at them. Positive Reframing is a great tool to have in your toolbox! 

Indeed, we cannot control everything in life. We would like to have a real influence on things or events but it is impossible. No more than you can "change" someone (our partner, our boss, our mother, etc.). However, what is possible, and even desirable, is to change the way we look at them. This is the only real change! As a result, it is we who change, it is we who benefit the most! This transformation takes place in us and allows us to approach life with more optimism and enthusiasm.

Giving new meaning

Reframing a situation or an event allows us to give it another meaning. The analogy with taking a photo allows us to better understand this process. We change our perception. We are widening our field of vision to see this event with a greater perspective. If we stay very close to this event, we only see part of it. By enlarging the framework, we put things in a bigger context, the big picture...

With this technique, we manage to restructure positively what happens to us. Of course, we need a little practice to adjust our gaze differently. If our first reflex is to see things negatively when we envy someone, we must make efforts to counteract this nasty habit in order to bring out the positive aspects of what is happening to us. By focusing our attention on them, we change our perspective, our state of mind is better, we see possible solutions, we feel less caught up in our emotions... A positive wheel is linked!

4 ways to train your brain to reframe

To reframe, it is therefore necessary to train our brain to illuminate new pathways. Our brain really has the power to influence our perceptions and to restructure certain shots.

1. Direct our attention

 We must remember that we can change our point of view by moving our gaze or by choosing a new frame (we imagine with a camera zoom).

2. Ask yourself the (right) questions

 To change our point of view, we practice asking ourselves "positive" questions, that is to say questions that orient us towards the positive. How can I get something positive out of this situation?  Who can help me in this situation? How could my day continue to go well ? What have I learned?

3. Embrace new ideas

 By changing our perspectives, new ideas will open up to us. Sometimes they can scare us or even upset certain conventions. We shouldn't be embarrassed to evolve and not do like everyone else.

4. Congratulate ourselves

We give ourselves a little bit of encouragement each time we manage to reframe a situation. When you receive congratulations, you are also more encouraged to start again ... and that's what you want!

Good practice!