ACTIVITY 4: PRACTICE REFRAMING
This is a technique used to shift your mindset so you’re able to look at a situation, person, or relationship from a different perspective. It’s about reframing your negative thoughts into positive thoughts to create a positive outlook.
For example: Instead of stressing about a traffic jam, reframe your thought process to the positive (as hard as they might be to see sometimes). So, instead of being stuck in a car, see it as more time to listen to your favourite podcast, an opportunity to call your mum and have a chat, or appreciate the fact that you have a car to be stuck in rather than maybe having to wait for a train in the rain.
A trick that has also worked well for me is always having positive thoughts ready to go. So, when I can’t find a way to immediately reframe a situation from negative to positive, I have another positive thought on standby to step in. This 1. Squashes the negative thought before it has time to set it and 2. Tricks my mind into thinking about anything else but the situation that caused the negativity. This will give my mind a second or two to catch up with a positive way to reframe the situation.
This activity has two parts: Firstly, take some time over the next week to think about 2-3 positive thoughts that you can store in your mind, ready to use when needed. Note they don’t even have to be associated with the situation you’re in… anything positive will work because to start with we are working to reframe from a negative to a positive. If you know exactly what that thought/s will be, you’ll be able drop it in a moment’s notice without having to think about it; giving the negative thought no chance to linger.
Secondly, over the next few weeks, any time you find yourself in a situation where you find your mind wandering into negative territory, stop and think how you can reframe it and if you can’t immediately, drop one of the positive thoughts from above.
Over time, this will build a much more positive relationship with yourself (and others) by reducing anxiety, depression, stress, low self-esteem and increasing confidence and overall well-being.
Across these activities you might see some reoccurring thoughts, feelings, words, events. At some points, you might feel like you are repeating yourself. This is a good thing. Repetition helps strengthen the connections in the brain, so if you are finding yourself rewriting (or thinking) something over and over, this is a good lesson of self-awareness of areas of your life that might need attention or require change. Or things that you love about yourself already that you’re happy and content with.