What Is Cognitive Re-framing?
Re-framing is a way of changing the way you look at something and, thus, changing your experience of it. (Our words are important)
How Re-framing Affects Stress
Using re-framing techniques can actually change your physical responses to stress because your body's stress response is triggered by perceived stress, more often than actual events.
If you perceive that you are threatened — physically or psychologically — by a situation, your fight-or-flight response will kick in.
How Re-framing Works
Using re-framing techniques can be simple and easy, especially with practice. To re-frame s to clarify and evaluate our thoughts.
Learn About Thinking Patterns:
The first step in re-framing is to educate yourself about some of these negative thinking patterns that may exacerbate your stress levels. See these common cognitive distortions to see which ones, if any, may come into play in your life. Educating yourself about thinking patterns and how they affect people is important for laying the groundwork for understanding and change.
Notice Your Thoughts:
“I am not my thoughts; I am the observer of my thoughts” - Tolle
The next step is to catch yourself when you're slipping into overly negative and stress-inducing patterns of thinking. Being aware of them is an important part of challenging and ultimately changing them. One thing you can do is just become more mindful of your thoughts, as though you're an observer. When you catch negative thinking styles, just note them at first. If you want, you can even keep a journal and start recording (I like to write poems) what's happening in your life and your thoughts surrounding these events, and then examine these thoughts through your new 'lens' to get more practice in catching these thoughts. Another helpful practice is meditation, where you learn to quiet your mind and examine your thoughts. Once you become more of an observer, it's easier to notice your thoughts rather than remaining caught up in them.
Challenge Your Thoughts:
As you notice your negative thoughts, an effective part of re-framing involves examining the truth and accuracy (or lack thereof) of these thoughts. Are the things you're telling yourself even true? Also, what are some other ways to interpret the same set of events? Which ways of seeing things serve you better? Instead of seeing things the way you always have, challenge every negative thought, and see if you can adopt thoughts that fit your situation but reflect a more positive outlook.
That's the gist of re-framing, and you can do it as often as you'd like. Most people are surprised at what a big impact re-framing can have on their experience of stress—changing the way you look at your life can truly change your life.
Become a Yes-sayer
“I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who make things beautiful. Amor fati: let that be my love henceforth! I do not want to wage war against what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do not even want to accuse those who accuse. Looking away shall be my only negation. And all in all and on the whole: someday I wish to be only a Yes-sayer.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche
