When you look at the autumn leaves, swaying in the breeze, what do you see?
Do the delicate petals of nature take your breath away?
How about when you look at a child curled in her mothers lap?
Does the physical expression of love make your heart sing?
How we physically see the world shapes how we psychologically see the world. If you reflected on the sights of your life so far, you could spend an eternity linking your personal perspective to the pastiche of fluid and unique scenes that you’ve witnessed.
The reality is that there is no one else who can see the way you see.
This means you are completely responsible for how you think, perceive, and see things (e.g. situations, events, conversations, people). We consume and construct images of the world. Therefore how you articulate these images, and your thoughts, is significant. Whether you choose a positive mind-frame or a negative mind-frame will completely adjust your personal life gallery.
The crisis of constructing our unique mind-frames is that we can mentally imprison ourselves, locking out others whose mind-frames are different because of the different experiences and sights that have created their own life galleries.
We cannot try and place ourselves in the ‘shoes’ of another individual, because everyones galleries differ and even if we were to walk through their gallery, we have a gallery of our own that determines how we consume the images of others lives.
Galleries – their purpose is to display pictures, where spectators can see a physical interpretation of something which may have psychological interpretations.
Depending on the galleries others put on display (their personality, reputation, gestures), this may change how they see the world. They may see you through a different lenses, or contrastingly you may see them through a different filter, depending on what other galleries you have been exposed to in your life journey.
A frame is a mental model. It’s a set of ideas and assumptions that you carry in your head to help you understand and negotiate particular ‘territories’ in life. In our lives we all have different territory that we cross, and thus our different circumstances require different approaches.It’s not a bad thing to have a different mind-frame or gallery to the person next to you.
However, what happens when a negative mind-frame devalues and darkens your gallery walls?
This is where we need to learn to reframe our perspective. Reframing requires another skill – the ability to break frames. The capacity to shift your point of view. The challenge to be innovative and inventive in finding new ways to frame your view of reality. Now reframing our perspective isn’t easy. It requires handiwork {i.e. hard-work}. You need to deliberately break off pieces of yourself.
May you realise that everyone struggles to frame their perspective. We all have different galleries as a result of what we’ve been through, and while we may not be able to see the way another sees, we can at least invest in each others galleries and help each other reframe the possibilities of our futures and our happiness.
May you be challenged to consider the images you have consumed and constructed of the world around you. May you be called to break the frames and mindsets that cause you to breakdown. May you stand on your territory, assured that your life is a gallery of worth and value.–
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You can choose between life and death; blessings and curses. Choose life, choose blessing, choose a positive mind frame. God wants to fill you with His life.
Philippians 4:8 // Fix your thoughts on things that are worthy of thinking about. Reframe your mind from negative to positive through focusing on the good not bad, clean not dirt, right not wrong.
Proverbs 23:7 //
As you think in your heart, so are you. Your thoughts control your life. What you think you become, and you believe what you dwell on. Dwell on truth and the things mentioned in the above verse from Philippians, not lies and unhealthy patterns of thinking.
Romans 12:2 // May your mind align with the mind of Christ. May you renew your mind in Him, and not conform to the mindsets the world try to impress on you.
