Have you ever had difficulty defining your goals or what is important in your life? As a counselor and therapist, my job was to help others in discovering their goals. One of my favorite techniques is called ?The Miracle Question? used in Solution Focused Therapy. When faced with The Miracle Question, many people were surprised at what was really important to them. Try this technique and see what is important to you. You will also see with clarity, the steps you need to take to fulfill your ?miracle?.



This question requires you to keep an open mind and be creative. See yourself having a lovely evening, spending time with your family, your spouse or partner or perhaps your pets. As you enjoy your evening ? you start to get ready for bed and you know that tonight you are going to have a great sleep. As your head hits the pillow you fall directly into sleep and have the best sleep you have had ? in as long as you can remember! While you are sleeping ? A Miracle Happens ? all your problems, struggles and difficulties have disappeared - completely!

Now you do not know this miracle has happened as it happened while you were sleeping. Now imagine waking up on that miracle morning without knowing that the miracle had occurred. What would be your first clue that a miracle had happened? Be as descriptive as possible when you write down what your first thoughts, feelings and actions might be that miracle morning. Keep asking yourself ? what else... (or if you have someone who can do it with you have them ask). Describe how things will be when you wake up and how the rest of your day will go. Remember detail is very important. Would you speak differently to those around you? Would you feel differently ? perhaps lighter or happier, more motivated? What would those feelings lead you to do with your day? What would the people around you notice that is different about you on your miracle day? How would they know a miracle had happened? What difference would your miracle make in the lives of those closest to you? Write down all the thoughts that come to you on your miracle day ? the more descriptive the better!

Once you have your Miracle Day down on paper ? take a look back to the last 2 weeks. Is there any time you have seen even glimpses of that miracle day? Were there times when you were even a little lighter or happier or motivated? Look at those times, feel good about them and see what was happening during those times.

Now let's use a scale of 1 ? 10. Put your miracle day as 10 ? where your life is free from all your current struggles and disappointments. Of course 1 is the exact opposite ?at the exact opposite end from your miracle day. On average, over the past few weeks, where do you put yourself on that scale? Look at what you are doing in your life that keeps your number on that scale from being lower ? what are the positive things going on in your life. Remember the glimpses you have seen over the past 2 weeks.

Once you have discovered where you are on the scale and what positive is happening to keep it there ? think about what needs to happen to move you up that scale ? even a half a step. Perhaps you need to get out of bed immediately when your alarm goes off or maybe you need to stick to the schedule you have laid out for yourself. Maybe you have a goal in connecting with so many people in a day or ensuring that your family knows you love them. Whatever you see would move you up the scale toward your miracle day. Make it your task to do that this week. Remember it only needs to be a half step ? not the full scale in one week. You will find that moving up the scale a half step at a time will provide you with momentum to move with more ease through the final steps!

Repeat this process every week or two and congratulate yourself for each bit of progress you make toward your miracle day! Celebrate and be grateful for each step you take closer to your Miracle!