The word I’m feeling right now that begins with my favorite prefix, “re”, is “reframe”. It means a couple of different things to me. One is that it’s a mental health trick that I’ve used to my benefit over the years. It’s when you hear yourself lamenting about something, (which is perfectly human and normal and acceptable), but you know you don’t want to get stuck in it. It’s a way to readjust your attitude.

An example could be if you’re thinking “I don’t wanna work, I wanna play on the drums all day“. You turn that off and allow yourself a deep breath and then do a little reframe. Like, perhaps, “I get to go to work. I get to see other people who I care about and have conversations and make a little money to spend when I’m not working”.

This trick ‘o mine (hey it is St. Patrick’s Day today after all. I might even share an original limerick at the end of this post) may seem oversimplistic. It might be, but it helps me when I am stressing or feeling crummy towards whatever the thing is that I don’t want to but must face that day. You should give it a try!

The other meaning of the word “reframe” for me is about pictures and art. Repurposing things I see and putting them in frames is the most recent creative instinct pulling at me. I even bought picture frames at Goodwill the other day. One is for a specific person that I will pick just the right photo for as a gift for an upcoming summer holiday. The other frames-well, I’m choosing to trust that the universe will point my eyes towards the images that belong inside of them. It wouldn’t hurt to revisit (ha ha but seriously I’m by no means done with revisiting things) the old gray plastic tub ‘o photos in the basement laundry room space I just finished reorganizing.

I think the commonality between these two things, reframing art and reframing our thoughts, is that they change the way we see things. They are about vision and forward motion through an intentional lens.

Now I told you all that I was going to share an original limerick in this blog post and in the process of google-searching all about limericks, I learned that May 12 is National Limerick Day. That’s because the person who invented limericks, Edward Lear, was born on that day. Bet you didn’t know that!

Here goes nothing:

There was an old crone who called herself Polly

who tried to always keep things jolly

One day she wrote her first limerick

and hoped with her readers it would stick

and delight with her in that folly

What might you endeavor to reframe in your life? Maybe something simple like a picture, or an attitude towards someone or something?

Now, as a lifelong fan of the Beatles, I can’t pick a favorite. I resist any silly quizzes online that demand I do so. But, I can say for certain that Ringo is in my top 4. Ha ha! Here’s a tune from Ringo (who just turned 85 and actually released a new album if you can believe it) that I’ve always found to be such a bittersweet, yet catchy, little ditty.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!