[form] Name[text,r_name,30] Email [text,r_email,30] REFRAME Level 3 Lesson 05 THIS IS AN OVERVIEW OF THE REFRAME APPROACH Do not worry if you cannot grasp it as succeeding lessons will go over each component. The best way to learn it is to use it. This is an approach to counselling to help you help yourself or for you to help others. Everyone at some time has things in life they want an answer to, or a way out of. This approach will help you see these things differently from the inside out. It was developed for online use with a chatroom or private chat window in mind. The basic idea is: If you can change what is changeable in how you see and hold things within your thinking (The Inner), you will feel and act different about handling things outside yourself (The Outer). THE NEXT CONCEPT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO GRASP It will be explained as fully as it can. The unique approach of REFRAME is its work with how truth is expressed within a pattern or structure much like Algebra uses symbol to represent the parts of a problem without expressing all the details each symbol represents. When you figure out the formula using Algebra, you can apply that equation to a wide number of issues that involve the same dynamics. Now if you keep this idea in mind you will understand where REFRAME is coming from. The research behind it is one where instead of using symbol like Algebra does to represent things, we use Frames of reference (contexts). The frames of reference are constructed from two opposites. Each frame of reference sets the context in which the next one may develop. In Reframe we call them context-sequences. If you can think of a pyramid it will help you because you will be aware that after the first layer is constructed, only then can the second layer be placed etc. etc. So with REFRAME we are out to spot the unique pattern of the key frames or contexts in the thinking of the person who is upset. This gives us a shorthand way of working quickly to spot where help can be most effectively applied. It means that just like Algebra does not get bogged down in detail or content, so too REFRAME has that freedom. You will be shown just how this has been extracted from Scripture and you'll see from the practical working just how we do that. The key building blocks are going to be shown to you. From these all of this approach functions. Though it sounds complicated once you experience it you'll be surprised at its simplicity in use. This is because it is essentially in harmony with the way we have all (humankind) been created, and how we all (all cultures) make sense or meaning of things. In fact the approach is quite universal to what it means to be human. KEY IDEAS 1. That truth is held in frames of reference in our mind. 2. These frames of reference build within each other as we zero in on what we give our attention to. 3. The frames of reference are made up of opposites e.g. light and darkness make up the context of a day; Consumers and suppliers make up the context of Role; Past and Future make up the context of Time; Change and No Change make up the context of Transitions. 4. REFRAME aims to enable you to identify the structure of how you are hold things now and provide you with ways to re-structure or Re-Frame it without getting choked on content or the minutae of details. REFRAME is about re-thinking in terms of the structural nature of contexts and the opposites that form them. Context Have you ever played the game "20 questions"? The idea with 20 questions is that you have a limit of how many questions you ask, and you are only allowed to ask questions that can be answered by YES or NO. The clue is to narrow down things quickly so you do not waste questions. This process has a fancy name it is called dichotomising (or splitting things into opposites). E.g. if the idea is to find out who the person is I have in my thinking, I might tell you it’s a bible character. Probably your first question would be, "Is this character in the Old Testament?" which is a fancy way of asking two questions at the same time. It eliminates one half of the bible! Then you might ask, "Is this character a female?" This also cuts down the field. When you are doing this you are using context as a tool for zeroing in on your target. Another example would be to look at a postal address. At the bottom is the larger context (for some funny reason no one puts "Earth" at the bottom of their address!!). Now if this letter is going to another country we put the country's name. Why? Because it is a larger context. But if its local as in our own nation, we use the largest useful context, then we start zeroing in on the target. We put the country or state, we put the city or town, we might put the suburb, we then put the street name, then we put the number in that street, and finally we put the person's name it's going to. This is just like 20 questions, but I hope you get the idea. A personal address steps down using contexts until the last context frames the purpose of the address. REFRAME sets out to spot the inner contexts of our thinking so we can zero in on an issue. Like an address each context needs to be a larger or more general one than the previous. Like 20 questions we need to eliminate what is not relevant. So we make an assumption that to think about things outside ourself, we reflect in our thinking using similar contexts or frames of reference. If we were to draw a picture of these so we can get a visual idea, the nearest image that's useful would be a pyramid. Keep the idea of an address in your mind. Click Here to see a descriptive image Here's how the frames are layered. 1. We all function in the dimension of TIME: In our mind we are either thinking forward about things that are yet to happen, or we are thinking backwards about things that have already happened. 2. We all function in ROLES: as consumers and suppliers within the dimension of time in terms of what we receive or do not receive, what we give or do not give. These will be the BOTTOM layer of the pyramid shape 3. We all function in TRANSITIONS: Transitions are about our experience of things changing or not changing; We think about whether or not what we're expecting as a consumer or supplier is met by reality and whether or not the changes or non-changes we want are delivered, and all this is within the dimension of time. This is the MIDDLE layer - frame - context of the pyramid shape 4. We have our thinking style or FOCUS: This is about a balance of evidence thinking and values thinking. The thinking style influences the change or non-change we want which influences the way we use our roles and which role we use which influences whether we fix our thinking on what's already happened or what's about to happen. This is the TOP layer - frame - context of the pyramid shape. Let's take a basic situation and follow through the process to produce a map. You feel hungry (the Issue or Need) You think about being fed in terms of what is yet to happen (TIME) and you think about it in terms of what you want to receive (ROLE) and you want to move from no change to change as you do not want to sit there being hungry you want change (TRANSITION) you may think about it in terms of the facts such as when you last ate and what will satisfy you OR you may think about it in terms of what it is going to cost you to remain hungry and the benefits of satisfying it (FOCUS). NoW a REFRAME would be, you considering that if you could just sit there as a consumer waiting for some supplier to come along and satisfy your demands but the cost of such would be waiting, so you decide to reframe to a supplier and go off hunting for food to supply your need. You have only changed one of the frames but it influences how you handle the issue. SUMMARY SO FAR Most things are experienced as behaviour in TIME & ROLE, within TIME & ROLE we experience CHANGE, and within CHANGE we use our preferred ways of thinking and problem solving which is our FOCUS. Just like this: _______________ <---- First Frame (TIME & ROLE) | I locate it in terms of past or future and consumer or supplier | | ____________ <---- Second Frame (TRANSITIONS) | | I identify whether it meets my expectation for change or no change | | | | ________ <------ Third Frame (FOCUS) as preferred ways of thinking | | | I assess the evidence for and against and compare to benefits and costs. | | | | | | ISSUE in focus | | | | | |____________| | | | | | |______________________| | | |__________________________________| The combination of how you use these three frames makes up the Frame Set or Overall Context. The main thing to remember is that only you are in charge of your thinking-frame patterns and that, once you learn how, you can change them when you decide. Though we may not be able to change what's happening OUTSIDE us, we can almost always change how we frame the issue within to create opportunities to handle things. THE ASSIGNMENT I want you to read the Book of Esther. Then I want you to pick on one of the key characters. e.g. Mordecai, Esther, The King, Vashti the former queen, Haman. Pick one of the situations described in the scenes in ESTHER and try and frame it using the frames we've discussed. 1. You will ask yourself whether the person in the story is looking to the future or the past. 2. Then ask yourself whether they are primarily a consumer or a supplier 3. Then ask yourself whether they want change or for things to remain the same (no change) 4. Then ask yourself if they are thinking more about facts or evidence or whether they are more on about the benefits and costs (values). To do the Assignment pick on one of the key persons The Person you selected? (please write their name in: Mordecai, Esther, The King, Vashti, Haman) [text,the person I am selecting,70] The scripture reference of the scene you've selected [text,the scripture reference,70] NOW let us FRAME it The TIME frame you think their mind is in? (Past: Something that has already happened; Future: Something yet to happen) [text,the TIME frame,70] The ROLE frame you think they are thinking in? (Consumer: receiving or not receiving; Supplier: giving or not giving) [text,the ROLE frame,70] The TRANSITIONS frame Change is about something new, different, unusual, surprising, spontaneous. NO CHANGE is about something old, the same, usual, status-quo, predictable So What do you think that person is expecting (change or no change) [text,what is expected,70] What is reality delivering them? (change or no change) [text,what reality delivered,70] The FOCUS frame balance FACTS What evidence or facts are they working with? [textarea,the facts or evidence influencing them,3,70] VALUES What benefits are they thinking about? [textarea,the benefits they are considering,3,70] What costs are they thinking about? [textarea,the costs they are considering,3,70] DO YOU THINK they are more influenced by the FACTS or the VALUES? [text,facts or values bias,70] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments or Questions? [textarea,comments or questions,3,70] [checkbox,send copy,checked]Check this box if you wish to receive a copy of your input via email [submit,SEND this Journal][reset,Start Over again] [/form]