NLP reframing is the key to self-Improvement. It not only helps you understand yourself but also the world around you!
Everyone wants to be successful in life. The definition of success may vary from person to person, but in the end, there is something that we all want to achieve. We often hear that the path to success is not easy. It’s almost an expectation that reaching your goals is going to be difficult.
What if I told you that it is difficult because at some level you believe that it will be difficult?
It is simply how you want to be. It can be easy if you wanted it to be easy. It all depends on the way you look at things, your perspective.
How do you define difficult?
What is easy according to you?
And why do you have these definitions?
The key to success and self-improvement is understanding your mind and how it works! Once you have that figured out you can take control of your mind and get rid of anything and everything that is holding you back or stopping you from achieving your goals.
What Is NLP Reframing?
NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming is a psychological approach to understanding what makes someone successful. It was developed by Richard Bandler who was a linguist and John Grinder who was an information scientist and mathematician in the mid-70s. It relates thoughts, communication, and patterns of behavior towards achieving a set goal. It has three major components Neurology, language, and programming:
- The neurology part deals with the understanding of the physical and mental components of our neurology.
- The language part deals with communication, both with others and ourselves.
- The programming part relates to understanding how our life experiences, thoughts, and emotions affect our everyday life.
NLP reframing is based on the notion that our brain has an operating system. Most people go through their lives without understanding or realizing this, or maybe it is too complicated for them to comprehend. But if we understand this operating system, we can change it however we like. We can get rid of the bad stuff and replace it with good and helpful things. Things that will essentially improve our lives.
NLP reframing is based on a simple question, why are some people successful and some people are not successful? For example, there are several students in a classroom, why do some of them go on to become surgeons and scientists and some fail to achieve this level of success. All of them had the same classes and teachers.
According to NLP reframing, the answer lies in the brain. NLP reframing seeks to understand what successful people do differently than the rest. How one person accomplishes a task can be copied and used by other people to improve themselves and excel at the same task.
NLP reframing is a hugely beneficial technique that can help you improve your life in several ways. It gives you more clarity of vision. It helps you identify your purpose and values in life. NLP reframing can help you overcome limiting beliefs. It gives you more self-confidence. NLP reframing helps you develop better leadership qualities. It can help you improve your life in any way that you want. Most importantly NLP reframing can help you achieve your goals.
What Is Reframing Technique?
According to research, only 10-20% of the information in our brains about a life event is objective (based on facts), the other 90-80% is based on our interpretations (subjective). Something objectively true cannot be changed for example if there is a storm outside, that is a fact and cannot be changed. However, the emotional impact that the presence of that storm has on us can be changed because it is subjective.
Our association of certain emotional and psychological elements with the storm makes our memory of that event. And our memories as a whole define who we are as a person. So basically, 80-90% of our habits and thinking are rooted in fiction. They are solely based on our interpretations instead of facts. Reframing is a technique that is used to understand and change these interpretations. If you look at something from a different perspective, its entire meaning will change for you.
Reframing which is also called cognitive reframing can help us look at situations, people, and relationships differently by looking at them from a different point of view. What defines a point of view or meaning is the 80-90% subjective information that we have about something.
To put it in simple terms, imagine looking at something through the frame of a camera lens, the image seen through the lens can be altered to a view that is closer or further away. By slightly adjusting what is being seen in the camera, the whole image will be seen and experienced differently. Cognitive reframing can be used to change our perspective and understanding of things that might be holding us back and free us from negative thoughts and unhealthy habits.
What are some NLP techniques?
There are several ways you can implement NLP to improve your life and achieve your goals.
- Anchoring – This NLP technique is used to recreate any desired emotion. This technique involves regenerating a specific emotion in relation to a physical action. It creates an association between the emotion and the physical action that you choose. Giving you the ability to access that emotion at your will. For example, if you choose the emotion of happiness which is a positive emotion, you will have to determine an action to associate it with. The actions can be simple such as touching your finger. That action will become your anchor. This way you can revisit the emotion.This technique can be used to change the memories which are centered around that emotion. In doing so, you can change your current frame of mind. This technique offers you the ability to understand and work on your emotions.
- Belief Change – Everyone has some self-limiting beliefs which hold them back from achieving their goal. Over time, many of these beliefs can transition into habits. This NLP technique helps people understand such beliefs better and realize the negative implications that they have. For example, a belief can originate from a statement that has been repeated several times to an individual. These beliefs can be damaging to you and the people around you. If you believe that you cannot do something, you are more likely to fail at it. To change your beliefs, you need to understand where they are stemming from. Once you do that, you will be able to change them for the better.
- Mirroring and Rapport – Mirroring and rapport is an essential NLP technique focused on better communication. It can help you connect with others better. It establishes greater rapport and trust with others by mirroring the body language, tone of voice, and words of the person that you are talking to. The technique is important because it makes the other person relate to you better. It makes the other person feel supported, which gives them a chance to be trusting and more open with you.
These are some of the NLP techniques that you can implement for self-improvement and towards achieving your goals.
What Does It Mean to Reframe Your Thoughts?
Framing is a mental construct based on beliefs that you might have about yourself, your situation, and about people around you. Its purpose is to assign meaning to your given situation. In simple words, the meaning you assign to any event is based on how you see it in your mind. In a way, your frames define how you see yourself and the world around you. It also determines how you interpret your life.
Frames are both positive and negative. Some frames can be within your control and some can be out of your control. In any circumstance, they are either helpful to you or unhelpful. They can expand your possibilities or limit them. Depending on the goal you have in mind, they can either be good or bad.
Reframing your thoughts means keeping the goal in mind, looking at the frames that you have, and choosing the ones that will enable you and help you towards achieving your goal. And discarding the frames that will hinder your progress. In simple words, reframing your thoughts means to choose the best and most enabling perspective when you are working towards achieving a goal. A positive frame will help you work more efficiently and diligently towards achieving your goal.
How Do You Reframe Criticism?
The biggest advantage of criticism is that it tells you something that you may not have known
about yourself. It reveals a blind spot to you about yourself. The best way to reframe criticism is to take it in a context of support.
It is important to find a course of action that is positive regardless of whether you may agree or disagree with the criticism. One way to reframe criticism is:
- If the criticism is correct, you have fixed a flaw in yourself.
- If the criticism is wrong, however, you have still grown as a person and carried forward despite the hurdle.
It is all about the perspective and how you choose to assign meaning to the experience.
What Are the Six Steps in A Six-Step Reframe?
The Six-Step Reframing method is a very well-known NLP model. It allows you to change habits in six steps. The focus of this NLP technique is to separate intention from behavior.
Step 1: Identify the habit that you want to change
Define the behavior or habit you want to change. Identify what you need to change and what is holding you back from changing it.
Step 2: Establishing communication with the responsible part
The next step is to communicate with what is responsible for that habit. It is important to establish which part of you is leading to that habit and make it communicate with you. You have to pay attention to the feelings and senses and their impact.
Step 3: Separating behavior from positive intent
If you try to figure out what positive outcome you are trying to achieve with that habit, you will be able to break it more easily.
Step 4: Create new behaviors using the creative part
Find alternative ways to get the same outcome that you are trying to achieve with the habit that you are looking to break. If you get the same outcome using a more creative approach, you will break the habit with ease.
Step 5: Taking responsibility and establish a bridge to the future
Evaluate these new choices. Are they acceptable to you? Will they be adequate or even better than the unwanted habit? You need to be willing to try the solution for at least a month or so. Negotiation is essential here. If you are not happy with the alternative you are less likely to follow it long term.
Step 6: Ecological Check
If you are not satisfied with the alternatives, then go back to step 2. You have to repeat this process until you find a better alternative for the habit that you are trying to break.
What Is the Difference Between Context and Content Reframe?
Context reframe essentially means that all behaviors are useful and helpful given the right context. It all depends on time and place. For example, eating too much all the time might seem like a negative thing, but if you are in an eating competition, this seemingly negative habit will become a strength. It all depends on the context. Content reframe is the practice of choosing what to focus on in a certain situation? You can pick and choose the part of a situation that you focus your mind on. This can change the meaning and impact of the situation entirely for you. While these are two different things, they do go hand in hand in NLP.
NLP reframing really is a groundbreaking and effective way of self-improvement. It can lead to massive improvements in personal and professional lives. And the best part is that it helps you understand yourself and the world around you better. It is a win-win situation. So, if you are looking for a way to achieve your goals, improve your communication skills or break a bad habit give NLP reframing a try!
