One thing I pride myself in, and people easily recognize is my ability to see, think and find positives in any situation. I’ve gone though major changes over the past year that people go through daily. But my approach is not to focus on all the bad, but instead look for the good.
Ever been fired? Silly question. Most of us have been fired at one point in our lives. Common reaction is a sudden fear and worrying “How will I pay my bills?” “Will I find a new job?” “What do I tell my family?” These are reactions that are negative in focus. What you need to do is reframe the situation!
First, what is reframing? Well, imagine a picture of a car. Pick something sporty. Exotic. Expensive. Pick a car that turns heads. Picture that car in a garage. Now imagine that car needs to go into the shop for bunch of work. Now picture the garage. No car right? Ah, but what you see now is a bike. Now think about what riding that bike will do for you that the car wouldn’t. Sure it’s different, but you’re going to lose weight, you’ll feel healthier. No more sitting in traffic jams. You also save money! Help the environment. Et cetera!
Reframing is about switching your focus. It’s not easily done until you train yourself to do it, but once you learn, it improves the quality of your life immensely!
Let’s take the getting fired situation and reframe it… Well, one… if you’re getting fired, it wasn’t the right job for you anyway! (Very few, if any, get fired from their dream jobs.) You get the opportunity to change your lifestyle. Had a business idea? Explore it a little more. The instability of a job loss leads many people to give up the rat race and become self sufficient. The movie “Up In The Air” has a great quote, that while they joke about, actually is very true “Anyone who changed the world, did so because they were sitting in that exact same chair.”
How about losing a lover? Well, you get a bunch of time back to do the things you love. You get to save some money. You can flirt with anyone, look at anyone. You can use your new found time to pick up a new hobby. You get to find someone better.
Broke your leg and can’t play golf this summer? Well, you can finally learn to play guitar!
Reframing is about looking at what you CAN do, have, get, be and not about what you have ‘lost’. Anything lost can be replaced! Jobs, men/women, cars, iPods, money.
There is positive in all things negative. You just need to look. Reframe your situation and start living positively!
