The most important, and also most difficult part of the tools to use is this called the "miracle question". Actually, it's not just a one question there are two parts of this miracle question. First part is a very long winded question, that's asking the client to somehow imagine themselves without this problem. Their life without the problem. So, I'm gonna share with you how I ask this kind of questions, and of course the other part, about the art. Art part is knowing when is the good time to ask the miracle question. It has a lot to do with timing. As you know every tool, any tool, you have to know the time to use the right tool. I don't know, perhaps we should have a discussion about that, about how do you know this is the right time. Many people ask me that question. I'm sure you have been asked that question too. "How do you know it's the time to ask the miracle question?" Do you have good ideas? There is many discussions about that. My take on that - and I may be wrong about this - other experts have different ideas, I'm sure. But my understanding of, my observation is How do you know it's time to ask the miracle question? It usually means clients have started to imagine. When you're talking about the ability to imagine things, imagination, they start to imagine the possibility that solutions can be there. They don't know exactly what it is yet, but they have some idea that if I just face this direction then somehow there's likely to be some solutions. And that's the kinds of conversation you have with the client. And so, that's the time when you decide. So, there are two parts. First part is the asking questions. The second part is how to follow up on the questions. And, so will talk about the first part of the miracle question. Imagine you have a... It's very hard to imagine even, if you haven't... just like me, I never gambled. Never gambled in my whole life, so I don't know what's it like. But suppose you somehow... you would talk to me about it. I would say thinks like... Well, we have quite a bit of clients oftentimes coming and they start talk to you a lot about the damage that's been done. What kind of damage my gambling has caused. What kind of problems it has caused. How much I have hurt other people. How much I've hurt myself. These are kinds of problem talk initially. And then we slowly... and listen very carefully for the words they use, as you know, it's always, always picking up and using clients' own words, rather than replacing them with my words. So, how does this client talk about it? Then that gives me some idea of how to engage with them around those clients... because it's worth saying even though, there are same words that implies it means the same things, the way the client uses it, is very different oftentimes than I might use. So, I would start out with "Now, I am going to ask you a rather strange question." Long pause. Pauses, by the way, they're as important as the questions you ask. So, the space, the emptiness. Very important part of the question. I will start again. "I'm going to ask you a rather strange question that perhaps requires lots of imagination on your part. Do you have good imagination?" He says, "Yes." Many clients would say, 'Yes'. Or if they don't think they have a good imagination they say, "I will try". So, you are already engaging them into at least to give it a try. So, that's why the pause is important. Pause is what helps the client start to imagine. And then they will say, "I will try." "Good. That's good." More pause. "Strange question is this:" And you can see the clients, "OK, OK, I'm ready." Then I would say... "Suppose..." Even so, still say "Suppose..." By the way 'suppose' is such a wonderful word. Cause it helps them to move into the land of imagination. that's what suppose is. "Suppose, after we talk you go home." "Yes." So, far you haven't said anything strange yet. So, they are waiting next what is this strange question. "You go home... and you still have lots of work to do for the rest of the day." "Oh, yes." "And" - pause "it's going to get dark... and become bedtime, and everybody in your household are sleeping. Your house is very quiet. And, in the middle of the night... a miracle happens." Long pause. "The miracle is... this problem that brought you here to talk to me about is all gone, puff, solved." Long pause. So, when you are slowly, slowly coming out of your sleep, tomorrow morning, what might be the first small sign that will make you think 'Wow, maybe there was a miracle during the night. I feel different.' ? What would the first small sign that would make you think that?" Even when you say this carefully, many clients, first thing they say is: "I don't know." Very common. I find that inexperienced people - inexperienced with using this model - think the client is viewed as 'too dumb to know'. So, they just give up at that point. No, I think we hear it different. We hear it as: "I have never thought about that." And they haven't. So, that's when you sit very quietly. Don't even move. Don't do anything. Just sit there. And then they will say, "Well... Strange things happen. Their head starts to go up to the ceiling, "Well..." And they will say, "I suppose... and they start to tell you and so you don't want to interrupt that. Some people describe it as a trance induction, from the hypnosis world. I don't know because I never learned hypnosis, so I don't know. But that's what they say. When you are very quiet, wait for them to say... and they will say... first thing they will say, and smile, "I wake up like feeling... my shoulder is lighter." "OK." "What else?" As usual, "What else?" Very important question. "I want to get up and face the day rather than dreading the day." "OK." "Alright. So, then what would be the first small thing that you will do?" Small, always small solutions. "...very small thing you will do that you didn't do this morning?" "Well, I suppose I would feel like I'll get up and coffee." "OK." "What would come after that?" "What would come after that?" "What would come after that?" Step-by-step, step-by-step. Small, small solutions. And as you can see, as longer this solution picture is.... the more details of the picture develop, you can almost see the client changing before your eyes. They clearly have some sort of physiological response to that and many people describe it that way. They say somehow they feel their shoulders going down, and their facial muscle gets relaxed. Sometimes they even have a smile on their face. But always, eyes go up to the ceiling, trying to imagine, trying to remember when they felt like that. So, this is the second part. Very important, the second part. It's not just asking the question. That's not it. We have to know how to follow up on that. Start with small, small, small successes. Sometimes clients will come afterwards... There is a college student, you know. She says, she has 25 000 dollars in debt from gambling. So, she said, "All my debt will be gone." Well, there's no way that she's gonna have 25.000 dollars in one day. So, that then I say, "That sounds like a pretty big miracle. What might be a small miracle before that, tomorrow morning?" And she described it as, "The small miracle would be I would want to get up." "So, what difference would that make when you want to get up instead of staying in bed all day and hiding from the world? What would you do then?" And then she said, "I want to get up and I will get up, and I'll have more energy. I will embrace the day rather than dreading it." OK? So, always these kinds of questions has to be translated into direct behavior. "What is the first small thing you do that you didn't do this morning?" So, small... Collection of small, small solutions. And you can just see, as you go along, the conversation gets longer about miracle questions, the more client becomes animated, becomes more energized, becomes more hopeful. So as I said, there's two parts to that. OK? And then, obviously the next part is to ask about when was the last time... in their life getting up in the morning and face the day. Small things. When was the last time you felt like that - even a little bit, even very short time. And, so with the exception finding questions you build the picture, details of a picture of solutions. "When was the last time you felt that way? Maybe two months ago, maybe two weeks ago, maybe six months ago. almost all clients have some ideas about that.