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Reframing allows us to view events that could hinder our growth, in ways that empower us. It enables us to step back and see a situation in a different light, seeing opportunities where once were problems. Reframing is rose tinted glasses, and it can make any situation a pleasurable learning experience.
The first rule of reframing is to turn the problems of your life into opportunities. We all have experiences that we label as problems, yet this is simply a label that is attached to an experience. Unfortunately, once labelled, the experience will certainly live up to its new identity. If you view your experiences in such a negative way, calling them problems will shift your focus and filter out any potential opportunity.
To prevent this from happening it is important to recognise your problems for what they truly are; experiences of growth!
In all situations, when you are faced with an event, that you perhaps feel may cause you problems, immediately look for the challenge. Seek out the challenge, and the experience will soon take on a different light. This is simply a method of adjusting the label that you choose to attach to the event, yet such a simple action is all it takes to immediately change the way that the event makes you feel. When it was a problem it was negative, now that it is a challenge you are able to view it from a new perspective. The situation is the same but your view has changed, this time you focus on how to meet the challenge, rather than how the problem can defeat you!
It is easy to see how a simple shift of your perceptions can affect the way you view the world, but why stop there? Just as we are able to turn a problem to a challenge, it is simple to turn that challenge to an opportunity. All challenges offer us the opportunity for growth, and when we can see this we truly understand that all 'problems' are in fact gifts that enables us to develop and grow as humans.
In much the same way that we need a resistance to push against when we build our physical muscles, pumping weights at the gym, our mind needs resistance too. We develop situations that are designed to help us grow and project these into our physical environment. This process stimulates us to overcome our subconsciously set challenges that have been designed to increase our ability in whichever area of life we desire to develop.
Obviously, if this was a conscious process, you would not gain from the experience. You would most probably choose to remain within your comfort zone, and life without such experience is life without growth. If you are ready to take on an experience that will bring you great learning and development then your higher self will attract a situation that encourages this learning to unfold, and this gift is your experience to label as you choose. Call it a problem and the lesson will be painful, recognise it as an opportunity and your learning will be an adventure of discovery.
Asking yourself questions is a wonderful strategy that you can implement to determine how you are going to react to a given experience. The chances are you are doing this already, but are you doing it in a positive conscious way? or are you allowing your questions to cloud your vision and limit your potential?
The wonderful thing about the human mind is that it will do it's very best to answer any question that you put to it, even if it has to make things up to do so! We can see how this works in the create your reality section, we filter information to answers our question, yet our questions are so often loaded that our answers are predetermined. If we are faced with a problem and we begin to question, 'Why me?' then our subconscious delivers our answers to 'prove' why bad things always happen to us. On the other hand, if we ask a positive empowering question, we are able to use this ability in a more productive way to enhance our life, rather than hinder it's growth.
Asking question is a fantastic way to find the good in any situation. Simply ask yourself, 'What can I gain from this experience that I hadn't noticed before?' and see what happens! You may like to develop some more empowering questions that will allow your mind to work for you, here are a few suggestions to get you started...
Aside of using these strategies you are able to implement many ways that will reframe your situation, allowing you to see it in a more positive light. It may sound a cliché, but simply noticing those that are worse off than you can be enough to realign your focus on your good fortune. We sometimes become so absorbed in our experiences that we need to take a step back and look at the big picture, and in the grand scale of things, many of life's little mishaps simply don't matter. For some, it requires a big reality check before they can see this.
Here's a simple strategy that you might like to try out yourself....
First of all grab a pen and paper and write down all the things that you have to feel bad about. Make sure you include as many as you can, doesn't matter how small they are. Perhaps someone cut you up earlier today while out driving, maybe you ran out of milk and couldn't had your morning coffee, have you had an argument lately, even if the cause was trivial, do you have any outstanding bills? Can you afford the holiday than you want or are you having to make cut backs?
Now, imagine that you have an appointment with your doctor, just a routine check up, but after the appointment your doctor gives you the news that you have an incurable disease and only a few weeks at most to live! You rush home in shock to break the devastating news to your partner, however when you arrive they are already waiting at the doorstep, they tell you that the doctor has phoned and was desperate that he talk to you as he had made a huge mistake, he mixed up your chart with someone else's and you are fit as a fiddle and have absolutely nothing to worry about.
Relieved that you are not going to die, take a look at your list, and now cross off anything that you feel no longer really matters, because, after all, you do have your health!
To create the life that you want it is important to have the focus that will attract it, you can find out more about this in the create your reality section. You may also like to try out manifestation software, there are many titles available but I strongly recommend Sculpture 3
There are many people that believe we work out a life plan prior to our birth. We decide on the lessons we need to learn in order to grow as a soul and create physical situations that will give us the greatest opportunity to achieve them. As an example, if we wanted to learn unconditional love then we might create a life where we have a handicapped child. The child's soul would also be a part of this predetermined agreement and may have wanted to learn dependence. Knowing this allows you to view events of your life in a positive empowering way, rather than feeling as though you are experiencing bad luck.
Before you were born, while you were working out your life plan, you would have had a list of lessons from which to select the events of your next life. During this preparation, you are free to select as many or as few lessons as you desire, knowing that, although fewer lessons might give you a more comfortable life, if you want to optimise your learning then you will need to create a life full of challenge. If your list contained 10 lessons to learn you may choose the easy option and learn 1 per life for the next 10 incarnations, or you may feel that you are strong enough to learn all 10 in just 1 life.
Once your lessons have been selected you set about creating a lifestyle that will best help you achieve them. You choose your family, the time and location of your birth, the people you will meet and the events that will ultimately shape your life. You do all this knowing that when you are born you will forget everything. Hopefully, as you progress through life, if you make the correct decisions based on the events that present themselves you will learn the lessons that you have set.
Obviously, if your life is filled with challenge, your soul thinks very highly of your ability to meet these challenges and learn the lessons that will ultimately lead to the spiritual growth of your higher self. This just goes to show how important the events of your life are, and you should meet every challenge with the focus that it was planned by yourself before your birth in order for you to grow. Look at the challenge and ask what you can learn form it, ask yourself why you have decided to experience the situation and focus on the benefits that you will gain when you successfully turn your problems into challenges, from which you can see great opportunity.
It is easy to see how we have grown from difficult situations in our past, but it is not always so easy to see the benefits while we are faced with a challenge. One of the systems that I like to use that addresses this problem is something I call, 'ugly wrap'. Challenges help us to grow and develop in ways that stretch our abilities beyond our present comfort zones. When we overcome a challenge that pushes us to our limits we are rewarded with tremendous growth, yet it usually takes some time for us to see the benefit and perhaps even longer to recognise its relationship to our experiences. In general the more a challenge pushes the boundaries of our capabilities the greater our growth is likely to be. When we can accept that we will soon be rewarded for the experiences of today it gives us something to look forward to. It is as though we have been given a wonderful gift but it's a little difficult to unwrap! This fantastic gift is wrapped in the ugliest of papers, but you know that the most wonderful gift is waiting for you inside, all you need do is face the paper and rip it open to reveal your wonderful surprise.
Knowing that rewards lie ahead allows you to future pace yourself to the time that you will be able to enjoy them and bring this happiness back to the present using it as energy to help you accomplish tasks. This can be useful in many situations, especially if you are prone to procrastination. You can find out more about future pacing in other areas of this site. In particular you may find the motivation section useful.
If you would like to learn more about reframing, please take a look at the selection of books featured below. To view the title, hover the mouse pointer over the book image. For further details (including online reviews, synopsis, larger image and ordering information) click on the link below the book. Use the UK or US links depending on your location. (both sites ship worldwide)