• Fresh Views

    X is for X-Factor

    April 17, 2024

    “Dance like there’s nobody watching, love like you’ll never be hurt, sing like there’s nobody listening, and live like it’s heaven on earth.” ~ William Purkey

    Princess Diana, definately had the X-Factor!

    In our last post we celebrated that we only had three letters left in the alphabet to complete our A to Z series on solution-focused words to live by and use in practice. After sharing about the “unbothered” mindset for the letter U, we are now down to two letters, X and Z. Today is the letter X, and exploring the “ X-Factor”.

    What is the X-Factor?

    Have you ever met someone that was so easy to talk to, was truly engaged and interested in you and your discussion, and just genuinely enjoyable to be around? You might say they had a charismatic personality. They are someone you will remember, someone you’d like to spend more time with. Their magnetism may motivate, inspire optimism and hope, and move those around them. They have something that may be hard to describe. They just have “it”…..that “it” is the X-Factor. Princess Diana, pictured above definitely had the X-Factor. And we have several Diabetes Care & Education Specialist colleagues that immediately come to mind when we think of the X-Factor! 

    While brushing up on the X-Factor we identified some similarities to solution-focused tenets and practices we’ve written about before. 

    3 areas where we see overlap with an X-Factor personality and solution-focused life/practice:

    1. See “challenges” instead of “problems”.

    A key element of a solution-focused life is focusing on Solutions instead of problems. Individuals who have the X-Factor embrace this thinking, and instead of seeing “problems” before them, they see “challenges”. They strive to make the best of what is in front of them and not waste energy on things they have no control over. They can see the world through a different lens and create a  Fresh Point of View. If the world seems to have turned upside down, they see an opportunity to change their view, be grateful for the view, and come out on the other side with new solutions. This frame of thinking can be empowering to those around them.

    1. Focus on what’s important.

    Those with the X-Factor personality fully embrace NOW. They see the present for what it is. They are able to break big challenges into smaller, digestible steps with focus on the here and now, and what’s important. They leave tomorrow’s challenges to another day. 

    As we’ve written about before, one way to focus on the important aspects of life is to use Reframing. Reframing is a simple and impactful tool that brings looking at a challenge from different angles, reimagining the situation, and identifying potential solutions. It helps identify “exceptions” (times when things were going well), so one can “do more of that”, instead of focusing on what’s wrong or not working. VIPs (the very important people in life) can be helpful in identifying opportunities for reframing as they know the individual and their habits well. 

    Another tool to keep focus on what’s important, is “imprinting”. We shared how to imprint in 5 easy steps here. When life is challenging (or just downright hard and painful), turning thoughts back to happy moments and picturesque views is a powerful reminder in the present.

    1. Embrace who you are.

    An important characteristic of the X-Factor personality is embracing who you are. Having self-confidence and not caring so much what others think, or desiring their approval. Focusing on strengths, and maybe even embracing humor to not take oneself too seriously. 

    We hope that our readers now know that when they encounter someone with “it”, they have met an X-Factor! Embrace that X-Factor, learn from them, and appreciate how you feel when you’re around them.

    We welcome anyone interested in our approach to Subscribe to our blog and we’ll email you when a new post is published!

    If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients. 

    Follow us on Twitter @AFreshPOVforYou

    Deb is employed by Dexcom, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.

    Tami is employed by the University of Kentucky HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.

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  • Fresh Views

    Use Reframing to Reimagine Life

    May 10, 2023
    Landscape view of lupine super bloom at Folsom Lake, California

    Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results. – Willie Nelson

    What is reframing? 

    Author Susan C. Young in her book The Power of Re3 . . . Review, Redo & Renew for Positive Change & Transformation writes that “Reframing encourages you to say, ‘Let’s look at this another way.’ By changing the frame around a situation, you not only change your perception of it, but its meaning for you as well. If you were to take one painting and view it in three different frames, each combination would offer a completely different presentation. Your perceptions work the same way.”

    For example, review the photo above and photos below. They were taken in exactly the same spot, except the first one is using the regular iPhone camera setting and the second two are in “portrait mode”. By choosing a different perspective we can see the delicate details of the beautiful flowers up close.

    Portrait mode of iPhone camera focused on the Lupine


    An even closer portrait view of single plants

    Another example of reframing is reviewing a problem differently by turning it into a challenge, looking at it from different angles, reimagining the situation, and identifying potential solutions. Reframing is a simple and impactful tool to use in taking a solution-focused approach to life with your clients (or in your own life). 

    A technique we wrote about last September, adopting a growth mindset, creates an opportunity to reframe thoughts. With a growth mindset the focus is on improving ability over time and developing necessary skills. Those with a growth mindset are more concerned with “ how am I doing TODAY,” compared to yesterday or last week, as opposed to comparing yourself to others. 

    Here are 3 solution-focused examples to help reframe thinking:

    1. When feeling stressed, try to identify one or two exceptions and think about a time when you were not stressed, but content. What was different at that time? Sometimes calling on your imprinted memories can help you generate those same feelings again.
    1. Big projects and complicated goals may seem overwhelming. Try to think of these as challenges! Instead of focusing on the long term outcomes, stay in the present and break down complex issues into small steps.  Agree to only focus on the first small step, no matter how small, and congratulate yourself when you do. 
    1. Appreciate your VIPs, the important people in your life who will provide  clear and honest feedback. They can help you identify opportunities for reframing based on their knowledge of your habits.

    If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients. 

    Follow us on Twitter @AFreshPOVforYou

    Deb is employed by Dexcom, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.

    Tami is employed by the University of Kentucky HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.

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  • Fresh Views

    Friends, Laughs, Views, Taxis…and Tornadoes

    April 12, 2023
    “Imprinting” the magnificent view at Lake Michigan, Chicago

    We connected last weekend in Chicago for some much needed R & R! When we’re together and with friends there is no shortage of fun, laughter, and Fresh Views! So today we’re sharing a pictorial view of how we put some of our solution-focused tactics into practice and sharing some of our fun with you all!

    The Best of Second City improv and comedy theater where we laughed hysterically

    While we write about focusing on solutions and doing more of “what works for you”, we also try to follow our own advice. Last weekend we walked and danced and sang and brunched. We toasted friendship, birthdays, and life! We squeezed into too small Ubers and laughed a lot. While Chicago is know as the windy city, we avoided a tornado while “sheltering in place” at a dueling piano bar! We imprinted so many views and memories!

    Rose All Day Lounge at Hampton Social brunch
    Chicago skyline on a chilly, windy day with Joan, David, Mike, Tami, Deb and Mark

    We encourage all of you to look for opportunities to recharge, reconnect and refresh with those you enjoy spending time with to create your own solution-focused possibilities. Identify what makes you happy and brings you joy (even the smallest things can bring joy) and find a way to make it happen.

    Beautiful Chicago architecture
    View of Chicago from the Architecture Boat Tour
    Cindy’s Rooftop, a favorite stop with an amazing lakefront view over Millennium Park

    While we really missed our friends Karen and Terry (the tornado’s fault) we were grateful to FaceTime with them and share a virtual happy hour! (Making lemonade out of those lemons)

    We’ll be back focusing on more solution-focused tenets soon!

    If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients. 

    Follow us on Twitter @AFreshPOVforYou

    Deb is employed by Dexcom, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.

    Tami is employed by the University of Kentucky HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.

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  • Fresh Views

    7 Key Accomplishments in 2020 and What’s Next for 2021

    February 10, 2021

    1.Dream it. 2.Envision it. 3.Think it. 4.Grow it. 5.Become it. 6.Live it. 7.OWN it.― Germany Kent, The 7 Steps to Transformation

    Joshua Tree National Park, California

    The photo above depicts 2020 in our minds! We felt like we were walking through prickly desolate days at times, yet we kept our eyes on the horizon, the peaks ahead, and kept moving forward despite the pandemic and changes in our world. With 2021 in full swing, we continue to envision new possibilities, opportunities, and fresh views on solution-focused practice, and we hope to encounter beautiful vistas and images to imprint in our minds along the way.

    We love the above quote by Germany Kent. We find that at the core it aligns with our accomplishments in 2020 here at A Fresh POV For You, and helps describe what we envision in 2021.

    Dream it. We dreamed that we would continue this blog to share solution-focused practice techniques with our colleagues and get more of our research published. We did it! This blog recently passed it’s second anniversary. And in March we published our second paper about incorporating solution-focused practice in AADE in Practice (now ADCES in Practice): A Paradigm Shift: Taking a Solution-Focused Approach to Practice 

    Envision it. We envisioned sharing the impact of solution-focused techniques and building the evidence to support incorporation of solution-focused principles into diabetes care and education by publishing more of our research. In October 2020 that happened! Applying a Solution-Focused Approach to Life With Diabetes: Insights Gleaned via Twitter was published in The Diabetes Educator journal (now The Science of Diabetes Self-Management and Care journal). 

    Think it. We continuously think about and consider the power of words we choose to use in  client interactions every day. So throughout 2020 we wrote a series of “word of the week” blogs. In each post we shared a word related to solution-focused practice along with practical tips and guidelines to inspire solution-focused thinking and practice among diabetes care and education specialist, and to slowly instill confidence in solution-focused principles. We embrace those words in practice and hope that you’ve found them impactful in your conversations too.

    Grow it. We wanted to grow our reach. Over 2020 we’ve added many subscribers to this blog and have shared it on multiple social media channels. In 2021 we’re thinking of expanding to podcasts and other methods too. Stay tuned!

    Become it. We were so excited to have a podium presentation accepted at ADCES 2020 annual meeting. Unfortunately due to the pandemic and transition to a virtual meeting, we did not present, but are hopeful to be able to share our presentation this year. We’re also considering offering ongoing webinars due to great interest from our readers. What do you think about that?

    Live it. We practice what we preach. We organize our life with solution-focused thoughts. We wake up and think about what has worked well for us and how we can “do more of that.” One thing we tried hard to do in 2020 was stay connected. You can read more about Support here and how we stayed connected with friends, family and colleagues. 

    Own it. We “own it” when it comes to our belief in the transforming power of solution-focused practice. The power of identifying what has worked and leveraging that for future successes. In 2021 our goal is to build upon this. Do more research. Write more to spread the word of solution-focused practice. And continue to educate ourselves and our colleagues .We’d love to hear from you, and learn about what you are interested in learning regarding incorporating a solution-focused approach in  your practice!

    We welcome anyone interested in our approach to Subscribe to our blog and we’ll email you when a new post is published!

    If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients. 

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  • Fresh Views

    “Imprinting”: How to in 5 steps

    November 28, 2018

    At the close of our prior blog post we mentioned imprinting, and promised to share more with you on that. So here we go…

    While imprint has several definitions, those that resonate with us at A Fresh POV for You are “to fix firmly on the mind/memory” or “to make an impression; have an effect.” So, with that said, here’s how imprinting works:

    1. When you find yourself gazing at a striking view or in a most memorable uplifting  moment…pause. Be present in the moment.
    2. Take a deep breath in and a cleansing breath out.
    3. Gaze at the view – noting where you are and who you are with. Take in colors, lighting, sounds, smells (maybe even taste if it’s food or beverage related).
    4. Then take time to appreciate and acknowledge what you see before you and are experiencing (many liken this to having an “attitude of gratitude”).
    5. Allow that view or moment – every detail – along with those positive feelings to etch into your mind’s eye so you can recall them in the future.

    You see below two memorable views that we have both firmly imprinted in our minds. These photos were taken by the shore of Lake Como in Italy several years ago. The photo of us together was snapped on a cool September evening. We sat with our husbands, sipping a glass of Italian wine, talking about life for several hours, just enjoying each other’s friendship while watching the clouds drop over the mountains, feeling the cool breeze as dusk began to settle in, and listening to the waves lap and church bells toll across the lake. That spectacular view and those special moments in time are deeply etched (imprinted) in our minds.

    Deb and Tami at Lake Como, Italy

    When life is challenging (or just downright hard and painful), we try to turn our thoughts back to happy moments and picturesque views like this. We even keep pictures of some of our imprinted views on our phones so not only our mind’s eye but our actual eye can prompt us and help take us back. In our experience, this philosophy – or mental tool if you will – can build resilience while allowing your thoughts to take a break and refocus in a positive manner.

    You (or those in your circle) may also find imprinting helpful, particularly when feeling down, stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed. With mindfulness and repetition, imprinting may become more automatic. Sometimes we even find ourselves stopping  and saying out loud, “Wait, I want to imprint this moment!” Give imprinting a try. Let us know what view or experiences you imprint, and how imprinting works for you.

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