FRAMING & REFRAMING

I wrote this yesterday whilst waiting for the start of the Six Nations Rugby match France v Ireland. I've just seen Declan Kidney, the Irish coach interviewed and asked how he feels about Ireland's very poor record against the French in Paris. Instead of being intimidated, he saw it as a challenge - "Irish wins here are rare but what's rare is highly-prized." That's a great example of a reframe. Despite that, being an England fan I couldn't show anything other than an English ball now could I?

Framing in NLP terms really means setting the scene. Putting a frame around something means outlining what's going to happen so that your unconscious mind knows what's going on. It also sets the tone of what's coming next. Sometimes it's helpful to change this tone - that's what is called a re-frame.

This week's video is about framing & reframing and you can view it here.
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In it I discuss and example of using a reframe in a consultation situation. I do that a lot, it's a really helpful technique to use. There is nearly always a positive way that you can turn a situation around by suggesting a different way to look at it - by giving it a different frame. Maybe someone is coming back to see you to talk about weight loss. Perhaps they intended to lose half a stone in the month since their last visit and they've only lost 4lbs. Rather than see this as a failure, stressing that they have done well and that if they keep doing what they are doing they are going to get to their goal will be much more likely to keep them motivated.

Look for the positives in every situation - there is almost always something to find. Have fun noticing them and thinking about how to use them to motivate yourself and others.
Michelle

ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY? .....

We all love stories don't we? I reckon anyone who says they don't is lying!
Whether because they remind us of our childhood or just take us away from our everyday lives, we all have our own reasons for enjoying them.

Stories are wonderful - from the very simple to the very complex. The simplest story often has more depth to it than is at first apparent whilst the most complex can also be enjoyed at a simple level.

Our unconscious minds love stories too. They love to try and make sense of them. When we hear or read a story, our unconscious mind goes into overdrive, working on deriving meaning that is relevant to us. Maybe that's why stories are so great - because we can all take out of them exactly what we need for ourselves.

When my brother and I were little, our grandad used to tell us a lot of stories. He made up his own characters, a family of bears called the Brewin Boys and told us brilliant stories about their adventures. Thinking back, they were really moral tales; each time the bears managed to get themselves into a situation and faced a choice between right and wrong. They always made the right choice and learned something along the way ........... and of course........ subtly, so did we. Now if grandad had sat us down and lectured us about doing this or not doing that, we might not have listened, but this way, it was fun. Not only that but memorable - 40 odd years later.

In today's new video, Suzanne talks about the power of using stories and metaphors when communicating. You can view it here and subscribe to our You Tube channel here, so you never miss another video.
Michelle

MIND - BODY CONNECTION

Our mind and our body are intimately connected. At one level we all know that but it's easy to forget it when it suits us to do so. In today's new video I give a simple demonstration of the mind-body connection and you can view it here. Play along with me and you'll see what I mean.

NLP is not just about recognising things such as the mind-body connection, it's about using it to your advantage. If you want your body to do anything, you need to get your mind in the right state first. Once you "get your head right" then things flow much more easily.

If you're struggling to follow an exercise programme because you're seeing yourself as fat and unfit, it'll be hard to make changes physically before you make them mentally. Concentrate on how you want to be. Give your unconscious mind something positive to work on, then it will work for you, not against you, to help you create what you are aiming for. If you see or feel yourself as on the way to becoming slim and healthy it'll be much easier to keep going in the right direction than if you see yourself in a more negative way.

It's said that we only use somewhere around 10% of the total power of our brains. Can you just imagine what we could achieve if we could harness our full potential and channel it? How wonderful would that be?
Michelle