The Miracle Question
Many in the mental health and wellness industry are familiar with this question, and you may have been asked it from time to time. In case you haven’t, I’ll ask it now. Think about a problem (or group of problems) that has been plaguing you. No matter what you’ve tried so far, the problem(s) persist. They may be internal problems or external problems, that doesn’t make a difference for this question.
Imagine this hypothetical scenario with me and answer the questions as best as you can. If you cannot think of an answer, take the pressure off the answer by making it a guess.
You go to sleep one night. In the night a miracle happens. The problem disappears in your sleep. You have no idea a miracle occurred because you were asleep, but it did happen.
When you wake up in the morning, what will you notice first?
How will you know this miracle happened?
What will be different?
How would it feel?
What would it be like?
What would life be like?
What’s it like thinking about this world where the miracle happened?
I know I asked more than one question. The rest of the questions are related to that first question when fleshing out this reality.
Now that you have a vision or idea of this reality, what are the steps you need to take to get there? You can work backwards starting with the last step or start at the smallest step and work forward. How do you break down each step into a manageable goal?
Does the responsibility of creating this new reality from the miracle scenario fall on just your shoulders, or are there other people that need to contribute? If there are others, what do they need to do, and how can a collaboration to reach this goal be accomplished? What do you (or your group) need?
What’s missing now to make this miracle happen?
Unfortunately change doesn’t often happen overnight like in this miracle scenario. It rarely happens so fast. With the vision from the miracle question in mind, there is an end goal picture. The road to get there is long and there is no GPS to tell you precisely how long the journey will take. Even a tiny step forward is still one step closer to achieving the miracle. Be patient and mindful with yourself on this journey to the miracle.