A ‘frame’ is word for describing a psychological context.

That which is within that context is real or relevant to the person who holds that frame-of-mind, and anything outside of the frame often seems unreal or irrelevant to that individual.

For a simple example, someone remembers falling off their bicycle as a child.

As this memory plays in the theater of their mind, there are many ways that they can frame the experience….

• Do they frame it as a failure?
• As learning?
• As feedback on how to improve?
• As ‘what always happens to me’
• As a natural part of life?

The list of possible frames goes on and on. And you can imagine that someone who frames it as “a horrible failure” or as “Just me being an idiot again” will most definitely respond differently than someone who frames it is “an amazing learning experience” or as “just like when I learned to walk”.

How they frame that experience will determine their emotional and behavioral responses!

And not only that but how we (and others) frame the experiences of our life determine our emotions and behaviors much more than the experiences themselves!

Moving Beyond Content into Structure

Above and beyond the sensory based “Movies” in our minds are our frames.

This includes frames of belief, value, understanding, expectation, memory, imagination, intention, etc.  There are hundreds of such frames mapped out in the field of Neuro-Semantics

The Cinema playing in our mind tells us what we are thinking about.  The Frames provide us the structure of that thought.

In Neuro-Semantics we have many tools and skills for de-framing, reframing, discovering frames and setting frames for the purpose of replicating amazing experiences as well as for ethically and ecologically shifting the perception of ourselves and others.