Reframing is a popular and powerful technique to help us shift from a negative view of a situation to a more positive one. As helpful as it is, we have found a way to frame life in a way that we no longer need to reframe negative things as they come up.
Join us to hear more.
So reframing is a great way to deal with negative or anxious feelings when they come up. But if we just keep dealing with feelings as they come up, it's kind of like that game of whack-a-mole. Do you know that game? It's where you whack a mole down as it pops its head out of the hole. But then another mole comes out of another hole, usually quicker and quicker, and it never ends. That's the game.
And that's kind of the game of life when we don't address the cause of a situation or symptom and just deal with it as it arises. What we have found is that when our clients begin to see that their experience comes from their thinking in the moment, rather than the situation that the feelings are related to, they don't have all those moles popping up that they need to whack down. They don't spend their time reframing situations only to wait for the next one to arise.
When we see that our experience comes from our thinking and not the circumstance, it's like a paradigm shift. When our paradigm of life changes, we naturally see our circumstances through a new lens or frame. All of life is seen from a new frame that no longer creates the same negative or anxious feelings that arose with the old paradigm.
It's like shifting our thinking that the earth is flat and therefore we have to pay attention to where we go or we could fall off the earth, to seeing that the earth is round. That's a complete paradigm shift where the thought of falling off the earth doesn't arise because it doesn't make sense through the frame of this new paradigm.
And from this new frame that we're always experiencing our moment-to-moment thinking, we begin to view our negative or anxious feelings differently. We begin to see that these feelings are not a call to action. They're not telling us we need to get the situation to change for our anxiety or worry to change.
For example, if we have a scary thought it doesn't mean it's a scary situation. Rather, the intensity of the feeling arises to get our attention that we're believing something that isn't true about who we are or how life works.
Like the fear of falling off the earth when the earth is actually round isn't telling us there's something dangerous here. It's telling us we're believing something that isn't true. It's there to wake us up to explore whether believing the earth is flat is true or not.
So, with this paradigm shift in how our experience and feelings really work, the game of whack-a-mole comes to an end rather quickly. And with that, our lives become much more peaceful and stress free. Our lives take on a lovely background ease like in knowing the earth is round instead of a steady background anxiety from believing the earth is flat. We no longer need to worry about where that next mole is going to pop up.
If you would like to explore this paradigm more, leave us a comment below and we can set up a free 30-minute consultation.
The recipe this week is an Oriental Noodle Bowl. It's very quick and simple with all the fabulous flavors of Oriental veggies with noodles in a bowl.
To your Amazing Health,
Connie and Bill
Oriental Rice Noodle Bowl (Serves 2) Adapted from Forks Over Knives
- 8-ounce package of dry brown rice noodles
- 1 small onion, cut in half moons
- 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 3-inch piece of ginger, grated
- 16-ounce package frozen Asian stir-fry vegetable blend
Note: if you don’t have frozen Asian veggies, use 3 carrots cut in matchsticks, a red pepper cut in strips, and 2 cups sugar snap pea pods, cut in half, or 2 cups of frozen peas.
- 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 1 tablespoon low sodium tamari
- 5-6 cups low sodium vegetable stock
Optional: garnish with ¼ cup cilantro, chopped and 1 tablespoon brown sesame seeds
Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
In a large pan, add 1 cup of the veggie stock, the onion, ginger and garlic. Bring to a boil and turn heat down. Add frozen veggies, or fresh veggies if using them, and remaining veggie stock. Cook until vegetables are slightly soft.
Add drained noodles, tamari and coconut aminos. Heat through, tossing with a fork and serve.