Reframing

Reframing is one of the best people helping skills available. Find out how to do it in this mini podcast.

Grasshopper Notes are the writings from America's Best Known Hypnotherapist John Morgan. His podcasts contain his most responded to essays and blog posts from the past two decades. 

Find the written versions of these podcasts on John's podcasting site: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1628038

"The Grasshopper" is the part of you that whispers pearls of wisdom that  seem to pop into your mind from out of the blue. John's essays and blog posts are his interpretations of these "Nips of Nectar." Others have labeled his writings as timeless wisdom. 

Most of the John's writings revolve around self improvement and self help. They address topics like:

• Mindfulness
• Peace of mind
• Creativity
• How to stay in the present moment
• Spirituality
• Behavior improvement

And stories that transform you to a wider sense of awareness that presents more options. And isn't that what we all want, more options? 

John uploads these podcasts on a regular basis. So check back often to hear these podcasts heard around the world. Who wants to be the next person to change? 

Make sure to order a copy of John's new book: WISDOM OF THE GRASSHOPPER – 21 Days to Creativity. These mini-meditations take you inside where all your creative resources live. And you'll come out not only refreshed but recommitted to creating your future. 

It's only $16.95 and available at BLURB.COM at the link below. https://www.blurb.com/b/10239673-wisd...

Also, download John's FREE book INTER RUPTION: The Magic Key To Lasting Change. It's available at John's website  https://GrasshopperNotes.com

Transcript

Reframing

I love to take pictures. I don’t do it as much as I used to but I like the whole process. It seems the people who are really good at photography use a skill that most amateurs like me don’t take into account.

An appealing photograph is often cropped from the original. That means the photographer focuses on an area of the picture that has the most appeal and resizes the photo to include only that section. This allows the distracting portion of the picture to go away.

They, in essence, are reframing the picture to showcase a quality that may have gotten overlooked when there was too much detail to experience.

The practice of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) uses Reframing as one of its many tools to get people to reframe situations in their life to focus on an area that may have gotten lost in all the detail.

Reminds me of a story . . . Many years ago I took NLP training and was captivated by this reframing technique for refocusing a client on an area of a situation they'd been ignoring. They had the frame around one portion of their picture and I would offer up another scenario which put the frame around another section and help them see their situation in a whole new light and discover something helpful in the process. It dawned on me after studying and practicing this technique, that my wife did it naturally. She didn’t take the NLP class and she was world-class at reframing. I pointed it out to her and she was oblivious to how she did what she did. She just did it. It was amazing to watch. She did it with everyone – neighbors, friends, co-workers, family members, total strangers and me. The outcome was she always left you in a better place than she found you. It’s quite a skill.

Reminds me of another story . . . I was walking our dog one day and had this thought. As human beings, we make a lot of judgements in our head. We judge people and situations all the time. This has its place, but for the most part it’s counter-productive and limiting. Then I got the gift of awareness to take a judgement that popped in uninvited and reframe it with just the facts.

Let’s pretend you are walking along and you notice a dog run into the street and almost get hit by a passing car. A judgement like this may pop in: “What careless owners, they should keep their pet under control and keep it out of harm’s way. Don’t they know any better? What an uncaring lot they are.”

What if, after the judgement pops in, you catch yourself in judgement mode and reframe the situation to exactly what the reality is and no more. “The dog ran into the street and the car missed hitting her.” The reframe doesn’t carry all the emotional baggage and self-righteousness with it and doesn’t occupy your mind with an interpretation that has no upside.

Imagine for a moment that you choose to approach the dog owner about this incident in a judgemental frame of mind. You'd be bringing an aura of superiority with you that has a deafening effect on peoples’ hearing. Taking time to reframe the judgement into the facts allows you to present your evidence without the smell of sanctimony.

The benefit of a judgemental reframe is twofold:

1. You get to clear your head of clutter quicker. 

2. You spare yourself from having a fruitless conversation with another.

Don’t bother beating yourself up for judging. That’s just more judgement. Humans have judgement as part of the software package. It has its uses. One of those uses is not a pointless conversation with yourself about your or someone else’s shortcomings. They’re going to be there whether you judge them or not.

Take this judgement reframe for a test spin and measure your own results. How you know how successful you're doing it is measured by the increased number of peaceful moments that you receive.

Final thought: Reframe and leave yourself in a better place than you found you.

All the best,

John