Stress Diary Journal Guides

Guide 17: Reframing

Guide 17: Reframing

Stress Diary Journal Your Guide

What is R eframing?
Changing the frame of an experience can have a major influence on how you perceive, interpret and react to that experience. Being told that you have one hour to complete a task will most likely result in a different emotional state, approach and quality of work than if you are told that you have one week to accomplish the same task. This illustrates how a change in frame (in this case a timeframe) can have a significant impact on the choices you make. Its like metaphorically putting a Photo Frame around an event/ experience Reframing going around us: on all what happens, they can put a positive spin on it for themselves or a negative spin for their opponents. context) changes. How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Only one, and the light bulb must want to change!

By reframing your initial response, you may come across a situation where your interpretation, initial appraisals, thoughts and the stressful situation- not be stressful at all-or reinterpreted by you- not to be stressprovoking

You may be frustrated at your wife for inviting the elderly gentleman next door for supper. Until she points out that if you were in his shoes, then you may find this simple act to be the highlight of your week.

Fairy tales often use reframes to help children see different perspectives or consequences - crying wolf. An excuse is a reframe that attributes a different meaning or context to your behaviours. A famous example: A father brought his head-strong daughter to see Milton Erickson - the famous Hypnotherapist. He said to Erickson, My daughter doesnt listen to me or her mother. She is always expressing her own opinion. After the father finished describing his daughters problem, Erickson replied, Now

Consider that old wooden table in the basement that you use as a temporary workbench for sawing wood, nailing things together, etc. Instantly, it is seen differently if some tells you that it is a valuable antique.

Politicians are masters at reframing. It seems no matter

Jokes are reframes - you are guided to think in one frame and then the frame (meaning or

C ontent R eframe
isnt it good that she will be able to stand on her own two feet when she is ready to leave home? The father sat in stunned silence. That was the extent of the therapy - the father now saw his daughters behaviour as a useful resource later in her life. In NLP, there are two basic forms of reframes - content (or meaning) and a context reframes. Content Reframe: The content or meaning of a situation is determined by what you choose to focus on. A content reframe is useful for statements such as: I get annoyed when my boss stands behind me while I am working. Notice how the person has taken the situation and given it a specific meaning - which may or may not be true - and in so doing limits her resourcefulness and possible courses of action. To reframe this situation, ask questions such as: * What other meaning could the boss behaviour have? Or for what purpose does he do it? A possible reframe might be: Is it

The meaning of a situation is determined by what YOU choose to focus on!

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Stress Diary Journal

C ontext R eframe
possible he wants to help and does not know how to offer his assistance in any other way? Examples: My husband is too lazy. Reframe: That means that he is pretty laid back and easy going. Imagine living with a ruthless hard-headed character! My husband is ruthless and hard-headed. Reframe: That means that he has ambition and drive. Many women would love that in a man! You may ask yourself, Is this problem useful to me in some way? Context Reframe: An event has no meaning on its own. People give it meaning according to their beliefs, values, preoccupations, like and dislikes. In other words, the meaning of an experience is dependent on the context. Almost all behaviours are useful or appropriate in some context. Interrupting a speaker by standing up and offering your view in the middle of her lecture may be judged as inappropriate. To do this same behaviour at the end of the presentation in order to provide a different perspective Reframing is changing the way you perceive an event and so changing the meaning. When the meaning changes, the response and behaviour changes also.

By reframing your initial response, you may come across a situation where your interpretation initial appraisals, thoughts and the stressful situation not be stressful at allor reinterpreted by you not to be stressprovoking

may be welcomed by all present. Examples: My partner is too stubborn. Reframe: I bet he has the tenacity to stand by you in tough times. My partner works all time. Reframe: I bet you will be thanking him when you get your dream home. You can ask yourself the question When or where would this behaviour be useful or

viewed as a resource? Using Reframing for Stress management could become a very powerful method in Reframing your Stressful situations or experiences. It may be helpful to keep this explanation in mind, in particular with your initial thoughts or Appraisals you are making. By Reframing your initial response, you may come

across situations where your interpretation, initial appraisals, thoughts could be reframed and the stressful situation not be stressful at all, or reinterpreted by you not to be stress-provoking.

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The Stress Diaries we have available

The Stress Diary Journal This 4 week programme to complete stress mastery, is an invaluable tool to effectively manage your stress to gain insight and explore self understanding. The Stress Diary Journal allows you to record your daily stress incidents & to monitor these incidents and analyse them on a daily basis, for a period of 4 weeks. Divided into 4 weekly sections for you to master your stress progressively and more competently, it helps you review your initial appraisals, stress responses, your reactions & to identify your stress triggers, to then restructure your thoughts, your attitude and subsequent behaviours. You will be able to easier identify negative behaviour patterns, to increase your stress awareness, to learn new coping skills and to let you adapt new & alternative strategies. You will learn renewed self management skills, inner control, effective goal setting, time management skills, to overcome obstacles and increased perseverance to complete set tasks and to instil newfound routines, competencies and behaviours. It helps you to know yourself and manage your life more completely. This is an invaluable tool to gain unique insight, explore self-understanding, learn stress management skills and effectively manage your stress in 4 weeks!

With a purchase of any of these Diaries, you get full Stress Management Support @ www.stressdiaries.com Stress Diary Journal: Daily Recorder A companion guide to the Stress Diary Journal in a handy size to carry about , and for you to easily record your daily stress entries. Each Stress entry is individually presented for ease of recording on the go and to then transfer these entries to your Stress Diary Journal, or this Stress Diary: Reflection Journal, at the end of your day. Making remembering these Stress incidents/events much easier and keeping you in touch with managing your stress more effectively.

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Stress Diary: Reflection Journal This Stress Reflection Diary Journal is a companion guide to the Stress Diary/Journal and used as an additional tool to further enhance your insight and understanding of your stress. You are to choose 1 significant Stress Entry per day, from your Stress Diary Journal for the length of your 4 week programme, that you may want to elaborate and focus on. Using the guideline questions and answer spaces that are provided, and you can add your personal notes or thoughts about your day or progress. Weekly summaries of your progress are included, to advance and monitor your progress and by answering these questions and adding your own observations, you will increase your skills at understand, managing your reactions and responses to your daily stress triggers and stressors. The Reflection Journal is an easy way to record and focus on how to reflect on your experiences and how you can learn from it.

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