I love the idea of asking these open-ended questions that allow for more than a binary choice. That is one of the things I find hard to do in the heat of the moment. I always look for the black or white answer, instead of the grey answer–the one that opens the door to multiple possibilities instead of closing a door to one.
Thanks for this. Great books to incorporate this as an underlying theme.
The "If there was a way" question opens the mind to finding a solution to the problem instead of focusing on the barriers. When I first learned it a couple decades ago, the example used was "If there was a way to lose weight and yet eat whatever you want, are you interested in finding it?"
Dr. William Glasser believed and taught that a "true conflict" was a situation where no matter your choice you lost something/someone important to you. When looked at from that perspective many issues we have are not true conflicts but situations where we just don't like our choices.
Because I've been a student of Dr. Glasser since the late 1960's and on his teaching faculty since 1980, I've internalized the concepts of Reality Therapy and Choice Theory which is why I they are embedded in my books. I tell people who are interested in or know RT/CT that my books teach the concepts in subtle ways. Those open-ended questions are perfect examples.
Thanks for discussing these concepts with me, Maggie.
I love the idea of asking these open-ended questions that allow for more than a binary choice. That is one of the things I find hard to do in the heat of the moment. I always look for the black or white answer, instead of the grey answer–the one that opens the door to multiple possibilities instead of closing a door to one.
Thanks for this. Great books to incorporate this as an underlying theme.
The "If there was a way" question opens the mind to finding a solution to the problem instead of focusing on the barriers. When I first learned it a couple decades ago, the example used was "If there was a way to lose weight and yet eat whatever you want, are you interested in finding it?"
Dr. William Glasser believed and taught that a "true conflict" was a situation where no matter your choice you lost something/someone important to you. When looked at from that perspective many issues we have are not true conflicts but situations where we just don't like our choices.
Because I've been a student of Dr. Glasser since the late 1960's and on his teaching faculty since 1980, I've internalized the concepts of Reality Therapy and Choice Theory which is why I they are embedded in my books. I tell people who are interested in or know RT/CT that my books teach the concepts in subtle ways. Those open-ended questions are perfect examples.
Thanks for discussing these concepts with me, Maggie.