Anybody Need a Miracle Week?

Welcome to the first Monday Ideas of the 2023-24 school year!

It is published here every Monday morning throughout the school year. This inaugural note is tailor-made for you and everyone in your school! Therefore, be sure to share it with each and every member of your school community!

Within the realm of solution focused thinking lies the miracle question – a question that invites us to imagine a time when our wishes come true, even on a small scale, as if a miracle happened.

It's an opportunity to step away from stress, problems, and tasks, and instead, consider how we would navigate it all if a miracle were to happen. It also asks us to provide lots of  details which also help us to follow through with our plan.

By asking ourselves the miracle question, we not only take charge of devising strategies, we also become more inclined to put them into action, because we created them. And, we imagine only a short time in the future to implement the actions. That makes it achievable!

Consider the following applications:

You can use the miracle question to think of how you want your school counseling practice to go just this week…

Teachers can use the miracle question to think of how they want their classes to go just this week…

Students can use the miracle question to think of how they want things to go at school just this week…

Administrators can use the miracle question it for personal reflection and,  for the students they see in their offices.

Let’s get started.

Take a moment to lean back, close your eyes, and do some daydreaming after reading the paragraph below. The solution focused approach is crafted to render any dream or miracle achievable on a smaller scale, so dream away.

Here we go:

Picture yourself walking out of the school at the end of the week, your thoughts being, "Wow, what an incredible week, it’s almost like a miracle happened!"

• What actions would you have been able to do that week that would excite you and make you proud? 

• What else? X 5

• What might those around you have observed you doing during that miracle week? 

• What else? X5

• How might the results of that week impact you? X5

• How might the events of the week touch the lives of others in your life outside of school?

As you can see, the miracle question can apply to any situation, and is especially helpful in tough situations, as it helps us envision what we need to do to move forward.

And, the best part is, no matter how unrealistic our answers are, the solution focused approach is respectful and asks us, “What difference might that make for you?”

From there, the answers that follow can become possible when we keep asking what difference each answer would make. It’s quite… miraculous!

Across the globe, each day, individuals such as yourself do amazing things through their words and deeds. You impact students, teachers, and parents and give them your best.

My hope is that this week, you give yourself a chance to experience being at your best as well.