I’ve been sitting on these ideas for a while as I haven’t fully thought through the implications, but it’s probably better to get them out now and come back to it later when I’ve had more of a chance to reflect. This is the first half of a two-part piece.

I’ve been thinking a lot about cognitive reframing and how it can be such a powerful and uniquely human trait. There’s a famous quote - which I can’t find - that goes something like:

” When you’re confronted by terrifying 10-foot waves… grab a surfboard and enjoy the ride.”

Cognitive reframing is the ability to completely shift the context of a situation and redefine your perspective - and your reality as a result. It is an ability that is directly linked with improved mental health and creativity:

In other words, the process of cognitive reappraisal, by its very nature, means the process of changing or altering the mental set or the information-processing bias one uses to represent the situation.

The ability to control effective response and to initiate more adaptive behavior has important consequences for our physical and mental well-being (Gross and John, 2003). Cognitive reappraisal, a linguistic strategy that alters the trajectory of emotional responses by reformulating the meaning of a situation (Gross, 1998), has been regarded as an effective method for regulating negative emotion (Aldao et al., 2010; Webb et al., 2012).

It’s also a uniquely human trait and its emergence is actually linked with the emergence of “behavioral and cognitive modernity within humans.”

Behavioural and cognitive modernity are thought to have come about between 100 000 and 30 000 years ago, as evidenced by the proliferation in cultural artefacts of both utilitarian and aesthetic value.

Cognitive explanations have been proposed; for example, it has been attributed to the onset of conceptual fluidity [7], dual modes of information processing [8,9] or enhanced working memory [10]. We suggest that each of these proposals holds merit and that they are not mutually exclusive

And cognitive reframing, and the transmission and adoption of new cognitive frames by members of a society are foundational to the development of culture and the role of culture as an evolutionary process:

Although evidence of human culture dates back millions of years, behavioural–cognitive modernity is associated with the transition to cultural change that is not just adaptive (new innovations that yield some benefit for their bearers tend to predominate) but also cumulative (later innovations build on earlier ones) and open-ended (the space of possible innovations is not finite, since each innovation can give rise to spin-offs). In other words, culture became an evolutionary process [11–18]. By culture, we mean extrasomatic adaptations, including behaviour and artefacts, that are socially rather than genetically transmitted. Although cultural transmission—in which one individual acquires elements of culture from another—is observed in many species, cultural evolution is much rarer, and perhaps unique to our species.1

The roles of cognitive reframing in creativity, culture, mental health and humanity itself are massively significant. They provide a different framework for thinking about strategy, the creation of movements and culture and strategies for coping with change and upheaval.

For me they suggest that an alignment of positive mental models; creativity; positive cultural adaption; and furthering humanity aren’t an exception, but should be the goal.

I’ve always thought that’s what true beauty is about - it’s coherence at multiple levels, enrichment that doesn’t require compromise or creating sides. I think that cognitive reframing can provide a useful framework for developing strategy and creative ideas that move everyone forward, but this isn’t where it ends for me which is why I’ve split this into two pieces, because there’s more to cognitive reframing than even this.