Frames are cognitive tools — things we do in our heads — to make sense of the world.
To “make sense” of the world is to attempt to predict it, usually through the construction of some type of predictive model.
So, to avoid getting lost in the world of terms, we could say that frames are ways we have of explaining the world. In the world of hypnosis, and in NLP, these could also be referred to as “maps” and are basically our boiled-down understanding of the world.
Our frames determine how we interpret the information we encounter. Often what we perceive as a limit in our world is actually a limit in our frame, or map. Sometimes we need a better metaphor.
Metaphors can act as a kind of frame.