Reframing Illness or a Setback

On a recent teleconference I conducted I had a first time occurrence happen. I thought I had been there, and done that, and experienced all of the good and bad of delivering teleconferences.

The call was about using reframing techniques to pull power and energy from tough situations in our lives we have survived through. With the ability to redirect that energy through cognitive manipulation we can reprogram ourselves to use that awesome power from the past, in the present.

We were in the final stages of the hour long call when I asked if there were any last minute questions or comments. To my astonishment, a woman began to speak and say that her name was Mary, and she was speaking through her signing partner. Mary was deaf and her friend was listening to the call and signing everything to Mary. I had never heard of anyone going to what I thought was an extreme in order to listen to one of my teleclasses.

Out of all the comments I received that evening, Mary's touched me the most. It was Mary's enthusiasm in using reframing techniques that made me believe at an even deeper level of their power. Here was Mary, who could not hear at all through her ears, but she did not miss one letter of what the call was about.

Mary's ability that night to push the class to a higher level in one minute was more than I did in one hour. Mary taught me that despite the toughest of obstacles, we should not allow anything to prevent us from living to our full potential.

Mary shared how she was helping a friend through a recent cervical cancer diagnosis. Despite receiving a favorable prognosis from her Oncologist, Mary's friend was still in deep depression . Mary shared with us how she had counseled her friend about facing adversity in our lives and beating it. Mary went on to say that she was not able to get through to her friend until she read about my reframing teleclass. Mary thought that if she could get her friend to listen in on the call, maybe, just maybe the seeds of inspiration she planted in her friend would grow.

When Mary's signing partner began to weep I began to dig a bit to uncover what the problem was. Mary's signing partner was her friend with cervical cancer. Through the indirect questions Mary had been asking at the end of the class, her friend began to see the power in these techniques.

While I was answering Mary's questions through her signing partner, little did I know that I was actually speaking to the person my answers were about.

This taught me a valuable lesson. Mary did not allow her inability to hear to control what ability she did have to help her friend any way that she could. That night, Mary's lack of hearing, was the strongest weapon anyone could have had to assist her friend.

Mary is a true warrior in every sense of the word. I cannot imagine not being able to hear the birds sing, the rain fall, or even my lovely wife yelling at me for not doing what she had asked me to do. Mary turned her weakness into an awesome display of power and strength in a way that should make us all think of how we look at what we think weakens us .

Does it really weaken us? Or is it really what empowers us? You be the judge!

Dr Dave Hale is a world-known expert on interpersonal communication techniques which enable people to hurdle anything they come against. Check out his next teleclass. Register by logging on to Teleclass.com.

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