Reframe

According to Wikipedia, “cognitive reframing” is a psychological technique that consists of identifying and then disputing irrational or maladaptive thoughts. Reframing is a way of viewing and experiencing events, ideas, concepts and emotions to find more positive alternatives.

For example, when thinking about going to the gym the first week of January, it may be easy to think “I’ll just wait a few weeks until new new year resolution crowd clears out.”. One way to reframe the situation for a more positive outcome could be “I love being around people who are making an effort to improve themselves and this is a great chance to meet some new people at the gym”

My new glasses reminded me of the day I got my first pair. Seeing the world filtered through those corrective lens showed me that what I believed to be the world around me was not so, but merely my own fuzzy interpretation of it.

We live in worlds of our own creation, distorted by our beliefs. It’s impossible for us to even know how distorted, fuzzy and out of focus our vision is until something happens to change the frame. Many times it’s the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, a near death experience, a disease or the birth of a child. Sometimes it takes all of those. Sometimes it can be as simple as one idea.

When a frame is changed it’s like a new pair of glasses. It’s not something that happens gradually, but it is a total transformation to the new way of seeing things immediately. Everything looks different.

From the moment I found out that I needed glasses, I saw it as something wrong with me. My first pair had big brown plastic frames and lenses that transitioned from clear to tinted in the sunlight. That was helpful outside, but they took about a minute to transition back so I had to wait before I could see when I would come inside from recess.

Glasses suck for playing sports. I didn’t like them. I didn’t like the way they looked, but was that my belief or other people’s? Was I afraid to stand out? I got contacts and never wore glasses in public.

I wanted to “fix” it as discretely as possible.

I started wearing glasses again recently. Bold, not hidden. It has been a bit of an experiment, and I have always known: frames change how people see you too.

Reframe.