What can I do Differently?

What can I do differently?

 I have, before,  touched on the concept of ‘reframing’.  It is something that many of us do unconsciously, but learning to do it consciously for your own benefit or that of others is worth doing
 An example is, say, it is pouring with rain.  That is fact.   However, the effect that the rain is having on you is your interpretation.    You say to yourself
“Oh what a miserable day, it is pouring with rain” whereas if you reframe this you can look out of the window and say
“Oh great, it is raining, it is just what all the vegetables I am growing need”.
This is a very simple reframe. The more successful people in life are more likely to have this second response quite frequently.  However, this sort of reframing can be the basis of contentment in life, and can be learned.
 It is all to do with how our brain works.   It is considered that only one fifth of the information in our brains is based on fact – the rest is based on our interpretation from experience.   
I recently was concerned about the extra cost of oil for the central heating.  That is fact!  I had simply stopped using the heating because of the cost, and was cold.  A helpful friend reminded me that this was my opportunity to learn how to not just light my wood burner, but to keep it alive during the day!   I now have a cosy room to work in and use the central heating only when absolutely necessary (say for a luxuriously warm bathroom!)  The reframe was a positive and sensible idea.
Consider: 
Your friend was complaining that she simply hadn’t the right colours of clay for the current commission she had.   
“What an opportunity for you to work out how to mix and create colours that you want” you suggest. 
Of course there may be objections to this particular reframe
“But the colours I have won’t make that colour.” 
This person has what we can call a limiting belief, based on truth, but if you learn the art of reframing then you will overcome this limiting belief and ‘think outside the box’ enough to solve the problem.  
There is a very cool question you can ask that person that would always help her to think beyond the current problem:
“What can you do differently?”
Every person would have a different answer:

• Acquire the colour from someone you know.
• Advertise on social media to see if anyone living near has the colour.
• Research what colours are needed to make the colour.
• Ask the client what other colours would be acceptable.
• Ask the client if she can delay the delivery of the commission.
• Persuade a seller to send some to you with high-speed post.
• Paint what you have already created.

I could go on for there are surely as many answers as there are minds, and some more ‘outlandish’ than others! 
 The concept is the get one’s mind working on possibilities, for there are always possibilities in life, and understanding this is when successful people emerge. What action that is decided on may not be what you, or that person, had even dreamed of until you applied this question. ‘What can I do differently?’
 Indeed, this is such a useful question as it has uses in just about any situation.     It causes you to think about what you currently do, and what you might consider doing in order to succeed in all your endeavours.