What if tonight while you were sleeping, a miracle occurred? And that which appeared to be a problem went away.
How would you know in the morning that the miracle had occurred? What would now be different?
Try this with a friend. Each of you tell each other what problem you’d been having. Then ask each other, “What if a miracle occurred, and overnight it went away? What would be the immediate signs the next morning that it had gone away? What would the world be like? What would you feel like?”
Try it. This one works best when I don’t explain it but you just give it a shot.
Also try it here in the comments – what would the world feel like today if something wild had occurred during the night and your problem suddenly went away?
Wonderful Friday to you!
Senia
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I first heard this question in the context of appreciative inquiry at a conference a couple of weeks back.
Senia – Great question! It is incredibly powerful. Do you recommend any follow up questions to spark more discussion and detail? Thanks!
Doug, great to hear from you.
Yes!
FOLLOW-ON QUESTIONS:
1) What if you were to act if you knew that your probelme had gone away? How would you act?
2) How would you talk to yourself if that problem suddenly went away?
3) Who would you recruit to help you and to be mentors, supporters, on your side if that problem went away?
4) What would be your next challenge?
5) Where would you start to direct your energies?
6) How would your food taste if that problem went away? How would your home look to you? How would your friends sound on the phone? How would you enjoy work interactions? How could you make work interactions more pleasant once this problem has gone away?
Thanks – much appreciated!
Hi Senia (and readers of her site,
Today, I have written a post about the origin of the THE MIRACLE question. It may interest you.
Who invented the MIRACLE QUESTION?
“Many people who are not familiar with the solution-focused approach still know the term the miracle question. Many people don’t know this technique is part of the solution-focused toolset. This is because many trainers and methods have taken the miracle question and have added it as a module to their approach (unfortunately often forgetting to mention its source). To my knowledge, the Miracle question was first mentioned in Steve de Shazer’s 1988 book Clues: Investigating Solutions in Brief Therapy.” Read full article here: http://tinyurl.com/3xq4hv
Hope you like this.
Kind regards,Coert