Reframing

Reframing is altering the meaning or value of something, by altering its context or description. 

Reframing is a powerful change stratagem. It changes our perceptions, and this may then affect our actions. But does changing our symbolic representation of the real world actually change anything in the real world itself? 

My starting point for understanding reframing (and creativity) comes from a key quote from Kolb.

In resolving the dialectic conflicts between value and fact, meaning and relevance, integrity is the master value … wisdom the protector of fact and meaning, justice the protector of fact and relevance, courage the protector of relevance and value, and love the protector of value and meaning. These … virtues … instruct us to create, not adjust.

• Wisdom dictates that we do not blindly follow the implications of knowledge but that we be … responsible in the use of knowledge. 
• Courage tells us to push forward when circumstance signals danger and retreat. 
• Love requires that we hold our selfish acts in check until we have viewed the situation from the perspective of the other - the Golden Rule. 
• And justice demands fair and equitable treatment for all against the expedience of the special situation.

D. Kolb, Experiential Learning (Englewood Cliffs NJ, Prentice-Hall, 1984) pp 227-8

Here's my schematic version of the Kolb quote.

See also this presentation.

Reframing from Richard Veryard