Mental framing can be powerful. Framing is the way you percieve a situation and the story you tell yourself about that situation. It’s almost always a “reframe” because our brains jump straight to an initial frame. Reframing a situation in a more positive way is a tactic nearly all emotionally healthy people use.
This post is inspired by Daniel Miessler’s recent post on Framing. It’s basically required reading, and this post can be seen as a follow-up to it.
When I think about reframing, I always think about Jocko’s GOOD, which is similar to the list below.
List of Reframes
| Situation | Reframing Thought |
|---|---|
| My toddler is screaming | In 10 or 20 years, I’d give anything to hear those cries again |
| Standing in the cold | Cold exposure is good for my health |
| Annoyed doing chores | This is an amazing way to serve and love my family |
| Stuck in traffic | More time to listen to an audiobook |
| Feeling overwhelmed by work | I’m really thankful to have a good job |
| Facing criticism | Maybe there’s some truth in what they’re saying. I can at least use this to self-reflect |
| Experiencing failure | Failure is a necessary part of gaining success. Each misstep could be a valuable lesson |
If you force yourself to mentally reframe things more, you’ll almost certainly find yourself more joyful.
- Joseph
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