In my programs I sometimes ask people a “miracle question”, a visualisation activity, where they get to imagine that they go to sleep and a miracle occurs overnight and the problem that is facing them is resolved so that they wake up to a new future. I’ve found it useful for groups who are really stuck in problem mode to get them to think beyond the problem for a little while.
Australians are so realistic (or cynical) that I usually get the response, “yeah but this will never happen”, so then I ask them to look for instances where little bits of the miracle are happening already – tiny examples of the miracle and that seems to help the cynical types a bit.
But this miracle concept has other uses, as I found out recently. I had a workshop participant tell me that she really liked the idea of a ‘miracle’ and used it when she was really stressed about her project workloads. She told me she had said to herself at the end of the day, “I’ve got no idea how I am going to get this all done, I think I need a miracle for tomorrow”, and that made her laugh and feel better and the next day when she had a project meeting, two important deadlines were pushed out by a month, so she got a real miracle.
I also picked up an affirmation card last month which read “Be realistic. Plan for a miracle”. I’ve cut it out and put it in my wallet as a fun reminder.
So, when have you had a miracle happen, or even just a little bit of one? Write and let me know.