What a frame is
A frame is the context and criteria through which an event is interpreted. The same delay — a flight postponed two hours — reads as disaster inside a "my schedule is sacred" frame and as gift inside a "found time" frame. The event did not change; the frame did. Reframing is the skill of noticing the frame and offering a different one that is equally true.
Two classic forms
- Context reframe: same behaviour, different setting — "he interrupts constantly" becomes useful in a crisis team
- Content reframe: same event, different meaning — "she ignored my email" becomes "she is protecting time for deep work" — checkable, not wishful
The six-step reframe
NLP's signature protocol works with a behaviour the person dislikes: identify the behaviour, establish communication with the part responsible, discover its positive intention, generate alternatives that honour the intention, have the part choose one, and check ecology. It is negotiation with your own patterns — clumsy when scripted, effective when practised live.
Limitations and honest use
Reframing is not denial. A reframe that contradicts evidence is a lie with better grammar. The test: does the new frame survive scrutiny by the person who has the problem? Skilled reframing in sessions buys options, not numbness. Our journal covers related territory in the presuppositions piece.