Reply To: Week 7 – Conscious Reframing Workout

Of course, I too have been studying and teaching reframing to my patients since my psychiatric residency 35 years ago, so the concept is hardly new to me.
This week was “interesting”, topped off by a even more “interesting” day yesterday where I felt hijacked by time and circumstances. I used the SRM while driving, stuck in traffic then getting lost, which at least allowed me to enjoy my time being hijacked! Needless to say, I did not feel very positive or productive this morning. So I re-watched the Video Recording to really understand Heather’s Reframe process (I love those shorter videos, Heather, they are beautiful and so, to the point!) I actually stopped the video at the point when Heather said to draw the dial and write down the suggested emotions on each number, then write out your OWN emotions for each number. I had a shocking realization: on MINUS 7, I feel NOTHING. I would have thought that I was at ZERO, i.e. neutral. But NO, when I get to that state, the next step at MINUS 8 is “I don’t care” which is actually how I hijack myself out of feeling overwhelmed. VERY INTERESTING COGNITION!

Here is my PLAYWORK: Wasn’t really “feeling” this process, which is even more amazing that it still worked amazingly well.
1. For my warmup I did 360 (counterclockwise) while declaring to my monkey mind that I was taking control.
2. For the Body: I used the Feel Good Dial to shift from that MINUS 7 to PLUS 4 EXCITEMENT, which seemed like a big shift( and maybe not believable?) BUT it worked…(WHAT JUST HAPPENED?) After that, I really did feel excited about how easy and fast that worked!
3. For my Finale: 360 (clockwise) while declaring ” I love feeling better and better and better! Thank you thank you thank you!!!”
In all took maybe 4 minutes that I didn’t feel that I was “trying” or getting excited about it. BUT afterwards I felt that I was breathing easier, more energetic and felt 50% less weighed down but what I had been dealing with during the previous days.
Then I called my accountability partner and shared this with her and we had an awesome, really down to earth conversation that actually expanded my positive feelings. Although we both had to move on to other commitments for the day, the positive feelings for me continued to expand and expand. Thank you, Heather, for creating such wonderful shortcuts for us!