Can't say what you want? Picture waking up to find the problem gone

What is the miracle question?

When we feel lost or stuck, we usually know exactly what we don't want, but can't say what we do. The miracle question asks from the other direction: if what's troubling you were quietly solved while you slept tonight, what small things would tell you tomorrow morning? The answers tend to be very concrete, like getting up at the first alarm or feeling like breakfast. Those small things are what "a bit better" looks like, and where a next step can start.

The question comes from solution-focused brief therapy, developed in the 1980s by Steve de Shazer, Insoo Kim Berg and their team in Milwaukee, USA. This approach spends less time on where a problem came from and more on getting clear about the change you want, and the parts you already manage. Besides the miracle question, it often asks "Has there been a time lately when it was less bad?" (finding exceptions) and "From 0 to 10, where are you now?" (scaling).

Research has found that answering the miracle question and exception questions lifts mood more than talking only about the problem; overall, solution-focused therapy helps many people, though the quality of studies varies. This exercise lets you try it once on your own; it can't replace a full course of therapy.

This exercise isn't therapy, and it isn't a crisis tool. If that thing has troubled you for a long time or keeps getting heavier, or you're having thoughts of not wanting to live or of hurting yourself, please reach out: a counsellor, a psychologist, or one of the lines answered around the clock.

The miracle question comes from solution-focused brief therapy, developed by Steve de Shazer, Insoo Kim Berg and their team in Milwaukee, USA. The steps and wording here are our own, written for this method.

How it works

1. 1Write in one line what's been troubling you lately, then breathe out slowly.
2. 2Imagine it gets quietly solved while you sleep tonight, but nobody tells you. Tap "Good night, sleep" and watch the window turn from night to morning.
3. 3Write the first small changes that would tell you "something's different" when you wake, up to three. If what comes is someone else changing, think about what would be different in you.
4. 4Picture who around you would notice first, what they'd see and how they'd react; then look back over the past month for a moment that was already a little like that morning.
5. 5Pick the smallest piece of that morning, decide when in the next 24 hours you'll try it, and keep it on your miracle morning card.

Three solution-focused exercises

The miracle question looks ahead, at what things would look like with the problem gone. To find a time that already happened and was less bad, try finding exceptions; to see where you are now and whether things are moving, try the scaling question and rate it from 0 to 10. You can do them separately, or take turns over a few days.

What this version leaves out

In therapy, a therapist would spend longer helping you picture that morning in detail, and use scaling questions to follow the change between sessions. Here it's condensed into one exercise you can do on your own; you can come back in a few days and see whether that morning has become clearer.

References

1. de Shazer, S. (1988). Clues: Investigating solutions in brief therapy. W. W. Norton.
2. Iveson, C. (2002). Solution-focused brief therapy. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 8(2), 149–156.
3. Neipp, M. C., Beyebach, M., Sanchez-Prada, A., & Delgado Álvarez, M. C. (2021). Solution-focused versus problem-focused questions: Differential effects of miracles, exceptions and scales. Journal of Family Therapy, 43(4), 728–747.
4. Franklin, C., et al. (2024). Solution-focused brief therapy in community-based services: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies. Research on Social Work Practice, 34(3), 265–276.