3 Powerful Framing Tools to Change Your Life

The Health Growth Letters is a weekly publication of tips, frameworks, stories, and lessons to help you build a more balanced life based on faith, health, and wellness. If you’ve been forwarded this email you can subscribe here.

What’s on the agenda:

• Verse: When we don’t see a light at the end of a tunnel

• Lesson: 3 powerful framing tools to help you build a happier life

• Featured Guest: Arthur La Motta

• Optimization: Lumen

A verse I’m thinking about

What do we do when we don’t see a path to our goals?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the past few weeks.

There are a lot of things I want to achieve, build, and experience in life. Some I have a clear path towards, but others seem elusive. This verse from the Psalms has been something I keep coming back to.

We are not promised a clear path towards our destinations, but we are promised guidance and to have our next steps made clear.

The best we can do is take the next step forward in faith that as we continue to walk in the direction we choose to go the next step will continue to be revealed to us.

A lesson I’ve learned:
3 Framing Strategies to Improve Your Life

One of the biggest marriage hacks my wife and I learned has been the “mission or adventure” framing.

For a long time, we’d leave the house to run errands, go grocery shopping, etc.. and end up in a fight. One of us would get frustrated that the other was taking forever while the other wondered why the other wasn’t relaxed and having fun.

That’s until we learned about missions vs. adventures.

A couple of years into marriage, we were taught to ask, “Is this a mission or adventure?” For a while, we would ask this question in the middle of frustration: " Is this a mission or an adventure to you?”

Oftentimes, we’d realize the other person was looking at the trip differently and shift or expectations.

Eventually, we started asking the question before going out, and by doing so, we avoided the fights altogether.

I tell you this story because framing can have a powerful impact on our lives, and today I want to share three powerful ways you can use framing to improve your life.

Reframing, Deframing, and Breaking the Frame

There are three powerful ways to use framing to your advantage.

1. You can reframe something

Reframing is a technique used to shift the way you perceive or interpret a situation, thought, or problem. By changing your perspective, reframing allows you to view challenges in a more positive or constructive way.

It’s a powerful tool for fostering personal growth, reducing stress, and finding creative solutions to problems. But there’s a catch… you have to have a problem in order to reframe it.

Let’s look at my example above. Asking if we are on a mission or adventure in the store when we’re frustrated with each other is a fantastic way to reframe our situation. It allows us to step away from our frustration and look at the challenge in a new way.

Some other examples where reframing can be helpful:

• During tough workouts (I’m so grateful I have a body I can push!)

• When you fall short (This is a great learning experience!)

• Disagreements or arguments (This is an opportunity to understand them better!)

• Stress or Anxiety (Here’s an opportunity to learn what my body is telling me!)

• Negative self-talk (A chance to practice self-love and build ourselves up!)

But reframing can only happen in the midst of adversity or challenge and can be difficult to do in the moment, that’s why I want to talk about pre-framing.

2. Set the stage with pre-framing

Pre-framing is a tool to intentionally set the stage for how you or others will perceive a situation, idea, or experience before it occurs. By taking the time to shape expectations and attitudes in advance, pre-framing can influence how an event is interpreted or received.

Back to my example above. When I ask my wife “Is this a mission or an adventure” before we head out, I am pre-framing my experience and avoiding any hardship or conflict that could result from it.

It’s the ideal approach.

Some other examples where pre-framing can be helpful:

• Before a workout (this is going to be hard, but I’m going to be proud of my effort and reap the benefits of working hard!)

• When trying something new (I don’t know how to do this, and I may fail, but this is going to be a great learning experience and the desired outcome is worth it!)

• Before a workday (I am blessed with this job, the opportunity to work, and earn a living)

• When going on vacation (I am not going to let my joy be stolen by small setbacks, this time is a blessing, and I am going to enjoy every moment!)

By pre-framing an event, or day, you can avoid falling into pitfalls and traps you would have fallen into should you have been less intentional. And, if you fall into it anyways, having pre-framed a situation makes re-framing it much easier.

3. Beaking the frame

Breaking frames, or de-framing, is a technique used to disrupt or dismantle an existing perspective, belief, or “frame”. It involves challenging why we believe what we believe about a situation to free us from binds or limitations our beliefs put on us.

So many people, myself included, get locked up in beliefs and perspectives that are wrong and limit our joy, growth, and lives.

Unlike reframing and pre-framing, we often need an outside voice to help us break frames.

Some negative examples of frames that need breaking:

• Unhealthy family rhythms (This isn’t normal, this is toxic)

• Beliefs that the system is rigged for others (This isn’t that hard)

• Perspective on pain (living in pain isn’t normal)

• Negative beliefs about ourselves like “I’m no good” or “No one could love me”

but there are also some good ones:

• How blessed we are to live in this country

• How loved we are by God

• How capable we are

• How impactful our presence & kindness can be to others

This is why it’s important to have a good group of friends, mentors, and peers that you allow to speak into your life. It isn’t just to build you up, but sometimes it’s to break beliefs and frameworks that are limiting your growth or capacity.

Featured Guest

Each week I feature someone I think embodies a wellness-based life. This week I’m featuring my brother-in-law Arthur who has been through a unique and challenging journey the past year that has reconnected him with wellness and deepened his faith.

About Arthur

Arthur is a creative director and producer who specializes in luxury events in NYC, Palm Beach, and the Hamptons. He made this shift after working in marketing, managing digital campaigns for some very cool global clients.

Through some intense health complications he had this past year, he’s been reminded of God's unending sovereignty and love for me and strives to encourage everyone he interacts with by sharing how Jesus has unfailingly provided for him, even through the most difficult of circumstances.

You can follow him and his posts about his cool events on his Instagram.

Question 1: What belief, mindset, tool, or habit has drastically improved your life?

Beginning each and every one of my days with the Lord is a complete game-changer.

Regardless of all the systems and plans you put in place to grow yourself, achieve your goals, and avoid complications, we are inevitably human—broken ones at that.

Spending time with God each morning (whether it's 2 hours or just a 5-minute prayer) reorients my perspective. I've seen it:

1. Increase the confidence I have about where I am in life

2. Remind me who I am in Christ, His child who has a unique purpose and gifting for the Kingdom

3. Reduce the weight that comparison can have, which ultimately distracts from what God has put into place for me

These are just a few benefits I've seen. And no matter how hard I try to convince myself that I don't have time every day, I can make time - we all can.

Question 2: What is one health, fitness, or wellness recommendation you swear by

Don't let lapses or setbacks determine your present.

In the past, if I slept in, skipped a meal, got lazy, or didn't follow-through with a goal I had set for myself, I quickly allowed that mistake to demotivate me and snowball into the rest of the day or week, leading to even more missteps and disappointment.

When you mess up, admit it and MOVE ON.

If you didn't go to the gym this morning, that's fine—what's done is done. Let's continue with the day, drink our protein shake, finish our commitments for the day, and start again tomorrow. Pick yourself back up, and don't allow the past to affect your future.

Quick Question!

Surface area of accountability

It was a busy and stressful week but I made some improvements. Looking back over the last few weeks I’m glad to see a continued downward trend.

I think the important thing for me is to continue staying accountable, tracking food, and finding small ways to adhere to my macros while still enjoying life.

An Optimization to try?

I spent three years working in the metabolic health tech space trying to end the metabolic health crisis at Veri.

No tech gadget is going to solve your problems, but getting insight into what's happening inside your body is the first step to changing. I’ve never tried Lumen, but two friends raved about it recently, saying that it’s given them cool insight into their health and metabolism.

Take Charge of Your Health in 2025.

A new year is the perfect time to focus on your health and wellness goals. Lumen, the world’s first handheld metabolic coach, is here to help you jumpstart your journey to a healthier you. By analyzing your breath, Lumen provides personalized insights into your metabolism, empowering you to make better choices every day.

Imagine starting your day with tailored nutrition recommendations designed to meet your unique metabolic needs. Whether you want to improve energy, optimize your metabolism, or feel your best, Lumen is the tool to help you succeed.

Start 2025 strong with Lumen. Order now and save 20% with code HEALTHWITHLUMEN.