Feeding Virtuous Circles

From Creative Therapeutic Technique: Skills for the Art of Bringing Forth Change
by Hillary Keeney and Bradford Keeney.

Phoenix, AZ: Zeig, Tucker, & Theisen, Inc. (2013)
Feeding Virtuous Circles
3. Feeding Virtuous Circles
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Creative Therapeutic Technique
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When you start thinking in terms of circular patterns, you stop seeing
problems and more broadly see problem-solution circularity. Similarly, a solution becomes processually reframed as solution-problem interaction. From a
circular perspective, problems and solutions are the sameshorthand terms
that point to an interaction. The more encompassing alternative to problemsolution circularities is an emphasis upon resourcefulness, or its interactional
form of resourceful-nonresourceful (where the latter includes problem-solution
interaction). A resource differs from a solution in that it simply contributes
something positive to a persons life. It is a source that feeds virtuous circles
and beneficial change, however that is uniquely defined. A resource does not
necessarily have anything to do with solving any kind of problem. The shift
from problems-and-solutions to resources was previously proposed by Keeney
and Ray (Ray & Keeney, 1993). Though easily missed, the distinction between
a solution and resource makes a huge difference in therapeutic practice, for it
delivers us from the vicious circles of problem-solution interaction and broadens the landscape of therapeutic change.
It is a paradigmatic leap to abandon the purpose of solving problems,
fixing broken lives, and treating pathology. Unfortunately, therapists and
clients too often share an attachment to the idea that a portion of their experience can be fractionated, reified, and named as a problem, while another
portion can be identified as a solution. It matters less whether a solution is
indicated as attempted or fantasized, non-successful or successful, first or
second order. In the same vein, it is relatively unimportant whether a problem is an attempted problem or a first versus second-order problem, or a psy-
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chological, relational, systemic, or cultural problem. All these framings tend

to perpetuate vicious interactional circles, that is, they tend to be runaways
that take their captives nowhere. Therapists and clients both need liberation
from being caught inside a problem-solution world. An alternative context
pays no attention to either problems or solutions, and instead has a strict
focus on whatever arises that is resourceful. Imagine interrupting a clients
monologue on his personal misery and asking, If you died tomorrow and an
admirer presented your eulogy, what is the most wonderful thing about you
that people will remember and celebrate? Whatever the client says, utilize
it to maintain a focus on the gifts, treasures, and resources of his life.
Perhaps the biggest secret in therapy is that a strict focus on resources,
accompanied by no unnecessary attention given to problems or solutions, is
the most transformative way to handle a clients stuck life situation. Dont just
faithfully accept this proposal; try it in a session and discover what happens.
Remember that you must feed the virtuous circle that emerges while starving
any vicious circles. Once you get a circle of virtuosity moving, it becomes effortless. It brings forth more expression and discourse that keeps its circularity
moving. Notice that both vicious and virtuous circles work in the same way:
they circulate whatever is fed into them. In this recirculation, an experiential
reality is born and kept in existence. The question for therapy is which circle
will you feeda virtuous or vicious one.
In the following exercises, we encourage you to develop a nose that can
smell resources. You must acquire the skill of noticing what metaphors and
communication have promise for developing a resourceful context. The road
to therapeutic mastery begins when you can smell a problem or solution
theme while avoiding it, and concurrently smell a resourceful theme as you
amplify and feed it. Without a nose that smells the death of problem-solution
discourse and the life of resourceful possibilities, there is no chance of therapy being authentically therapeutic.
When you are able to discern resourcefulness, the next practice asks you
to develop the skill of feeding it. Therapeutic change takes more than spotlighting a resource; the latter must be fed in order to turn it into a virtuous
circle that brings forth more resourceful expression. A client who says, I
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used to have a great curve ball when I was young provides an invitation to
expand upon the introduced metaphor. Are you able to throw a curve and
mix your pitches when you relate to your wife? Or do you only have a good
fast ball? Or another tact might ask, A curve is the first step toward a circle.
Have you ever thrown a boomerang? You throw it and it comes back to you.
Do you throw successful boomerangs in your daily life, that is, do you do nice
deeds that end up coming back to you with a well-earned return?
Once you get a virtuous circle turning, it will bring forth more resources
if you feed it a resourceful diet. No matter what resourceful theme is elicited,
consider commenting, Thats amazing! Why arent you bringing more of
that into your life? What would it be like if you had more of that tonight?
Ask anything about a resource, including who else knows about it, when it
started, why they think they have it, and so forth. Do so in the same ways
other therapists express interest and curiosity about problems. Once inside a
circle, any question or comment keeps the circle moving. The same skill that
keeps a person stuckwhether it is a client or therapistsimply can be applied to that which liberates a creative, resourceful life.
Finally, there will be times when you have a free association or fantasy
about a resourceful direction to follow in a session. Trust these intuitions and
express them, even if they make no sense. In the middle of a conversation,
you can pause and say, Excuse me, I am having an interesting intuition. I
dont know why I am asking this, but it came up. I trust these intuitions even
when they may not make sense at first. Heres what I want to ask without
knowing why. Perhaps you will know. Did anyone in your family ever preach
to a cat when they were a kid? Or tell a joke to a grasshopper? Or perhaps
jump for a frog? This kind of question exemplifies an out-of-frame attractor, one that does not fit the ongoing conversation. These questions provide
opportunities for the client to spring out of the present box and explore another direction, whether it directly or indirectly connects or disconnects.
The flow experience is another way of describing what it is like to be
inside a virtuous circularity. Once this circle starts turning, clients and therapists both start saying things that move the case forward. A session moves
toward being effortless and creative, without a map or strategy dictating
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what should and should not be done. Seen this way, therapy should either
stop or still vicious circles, while jump-starting virtuous circles in order to
bring new interactional electricity and life into a session.
Though we have suggested that you must learn to smell both vicious and
virtuous circles, it actually boils down to your being able to discern when a
session comes to life. If a session smells, looks, sounds, or feels dead, it most
likely is. If it springs to life, everyone will notice it. What is true for the theatrical stage is true for the clinical stage of performance. Your job is to help a
conversation wake up, come to life, and ignite the wheels of change to turn.
When you conceptualize therapy (and life) as a journey along a narrative plot line, it appears that we get from here to therehowever these locales are definedone step at a time. It takes work to lift and move each step
along the walk of lineal progression. But when you shift to the view of circularities that come to life when fed, you notice that it may spin itself into the
ground, staying at the same place even as it moves, stuck in the problemsolution Tango. Or it will spin itself forward, moving along a trajectory with
total ease. The fullest picture involves all perspectives, like Niels Bohrs complementarity of particle and waves.5 Here progression along a lineal plot line
occurs because of a turning circularity that moves along the trajectory.
Therapists can avoid setting themselves up to painstakingly plod along,
one step at a time. The alternative is to activate a circularity that moves effortlessly as long as it is fed your devoted attention. This is to say that you
must serve the natural motion of resourceful change rather than play a part
in the battering commotion of pathological framing. Re-conceptualize therapy as the feeding of virtuous circlesdiscerning them, initiating their movement, and keeping them well fed. This practice is partly the art of doing
nothing, that is, getting out of the way once a virtuous circle starts to turn.
Here knowing has less importance than saying no to anything that stops the
realized presence of life.
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Did you know that after Niels Bohr was awarded the Order of the Elephant by the Danish
government, he designed his own coat of arms that featured the symbol of yin and yang.
He added a Latin motto: contraria sunt complementa (opposites are complementary).
Imagine that you will someday tell this historical fact to a colleague and then ask her
whether Niels is yin or yang, and whether Bohr is yang or yin. Do so while handing them a
picture of an elephant.
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Motion often requires emotion so that change is actually felt. This body
knowing is the embodiment of change. In other words, the movement of a
virtuous circle is felt when enacted. There is exhilaration, an excitement that
signals that something is happening. What is problematic about problem talk
and solution talk is that it too often smells lifeless and uninspiring. Its heavy,
serious, and absent of the lighthearted play that signals creativity. Lighten up
and the wheels of change will have a better chance of re-circulating life into a
session. Introduce more play into your session so that work becomes transformed into the effortless motion of natural transformative change.
Practice: How to Smell a Resource
The exercise below can be done on your own or in a group. It is meant
to both assess and build your capacity to discern a resource in a session.
From an ecological perspective of human experience, almost anything can be
a resource, even that which is initially framed as a problem or source of
suffering. A nose for smelling resources becomes more finely tuned once the
fractionated, dualistic thinking of problem versus solution, strength versus
weakness, negative versus positive, or pain versus joy is dissolved by entry
into circularity; not just philosophically, but in real-time performance. The
cost of abandoning our tidy categoriesincluding letting go of any therapy
model that presupposes what is or is not a resource for clientsis the opening of a whole universe of metaphors, expressions, and experiences that can
feed virtuous circles. In fact, its arguably better to abandon too much talk of
resources and instead focus on whatever has life in a session. Learn to discern
what feels alive, versus what feels dead in your therapy. Feed that and the
rest will follow.
Exercise: Discerning Resources
Below we provide a list of statements from actual therapy sessions. No
background information on the cases will be given. This is because sometimes a resource shows up in the therapeutic interaction that has no obvious
or logical connection to the clients reason for coming to therapy or even the
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topic of discussion. This makes resources easy to miss if a therapist isnt

tuned to listen for them. Though you can elicit resourceful conversation, its
also important to train your nose to expect the unexpected and sniff out the
truffles buried in the dirt. In this exercise, imagine a client is saying these
words to you in a session. Underline the words, metaphors, or expressions
that offer up something potentially resourceful to work with. You can also do
this in a group with the statements on a blackboard, and allow it to generate
discussion:
Whenever I get to the end of my rope with him and feel like I just cant
take it anymore, I just start singing a little hymn in my head.
That dog was the only thing getting me up in the morning. Now that
hes gone, I dont know what Im going to do.
Were just total opposites. Im outgoing, hes introverted. Im liberal,
and hes more conservative. Its always been that way but now its as if we are
growing apart and cant find that thing that brought us together.
Since my father died everything has fallen apart for me. Ive totally unraveled and I cant seem to move on.
I write poetry.
When he first started art school I used to pose for him for his sketches
all the time.
We found a photo of ourselves where we are making the same exact
expression, and we dont even look alike. Everyone who sees the photo notices it.
Theres also those owl dreams I keep having.
I always seem to do things in threes. For example, if I make a sandwich,
its going to have three slices of turkey. I stir my coffee three times. I often
look at the clock and theres a number 3 in it. My family always teases me
about it. So I went and got a tattoo of the number 3.
He spray-painted his bedroom door.
I can make a mean pot of chili.
My name is Hank but my wife has always called me Zeus.
Things are tough at the moment but I know God has a plan for me.
Hes always reading about psychology and analyzing everything I say.
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Its impossible to talk to him. It drives his father and me nuts and it gets us
into arguments with him. The family calls him Einstein because he is so
brainy.
I love her giggle.
I used to be a dancer.
Ive always dreamed of going to Russia. Ive always had a thing for Russia, but Ive never been there. I read every book on Russian history that I can
get my hands on.
Some of the above resourceful expressions may seem more obvious than
others. For example, anytime clients express their passion or talent for anything (cooking, dancing, sports, art, gardening, etc.) you have a resource that
you can utilize. Remember, however, that even the more obvious resourceful
metaphors may be buried in a mountain of problem talk. If youre not paying
attention, you might miss them. Examples of obvious, self-pronounced resources from the list above include:
I write poetry.
I can make a mean pot of chili.
I used to be a dancer.
Sometimes a client can also present a behavior as a problem and the
therapist can instead draw out what is actually resourceful inside it. For example, in the case of Magmore (Keeney, 2009) referenced in Chapter One, when
the mother cited Andys having spray-painted his bedroom door as evidence
of bad behavior, Brad asked, Hold it. Did he do a good job? From this he
uncovered a resource in Andyhis passion for and talent as an artist. The latter sparked the virtuous circle that changed Andys life. Dont be a reflecting
mirror for clients entrenched discourse or stuck way of framing and relating
to their experience. Instead, discern and utilize a resource even when the client is not doing so.
Sometimes clients express something unique about themselves or their
experience that is relatively neutralnot obviously good or bad, just unique
or interesting. Anything that smells like it has life in it is a potential resource.
Whether its funny, quirky, odd, unusual, interesting, out-of-the-norm, or
just seems to stand out in the clients expression, know they are offering you
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a resource that can spark and feed a virtuous circle. Examples from the above
list include:
Were just total opposites. Im outgoing, hes introverted. Im liberal,
and hes more conservative
We found a photo of ourselves where we are making the same exact
expression, and we dont even look alike.
I always seem to do things in threes So I went and got a tattoo of the
number 3.
The family calls him Einstein because he is so brainy.
get my hands on.
Clients may express something unique about themselves that they consider problematic, such as the statement above about being total opposites.
This came from a session with a couple who felt they had drifted apart. It
turned out that they embodied both ends of almost every spectrum one could
imagine, from their exercise habits to their political beliefs. We utilized their
metaphor of being opposites as a resource; amplifying what was alive and interesting about it rather than helping them solve it as if it were a problem.
Paradoxically, they are the same couple that happened to have a photo of each
other together making the same exact expression. This marked difference in
their marriagebeing total opposites who also possessed a mysterious sameness captured on filmoffered the key ingredient to make a sensationally resource-rich recipe for change.
Even the way a client talks about her problem can be a resource. If a
client speaks with passion and theatricality about her problem, you might
ignore the problem content of her statement and instead utilize her ability to
captivate an audience as a communication of something resourceful: You
just said that with such dynamic presence, like a classically trained stage actress. Do you always express yourself with such dramatic flair?
Anything that arises from or evokes the heart is a resource. This is also
true when a client is grieving a loss:
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That dog was the only thing getting me up in the morning.

Since my father died everything has fallen apart for me.
Whether its a dog or a parent, expressing the pain of loss is another way
of expressing a very strong love and connection. This kind of longing for
someone or something you love is like a direct hookup to the heart. The
death of a loved one is not a problem to be solved, nor is the longing for that
person it brings. There are many ways to relate to this sadness that have
nothing to do with getting past it. The resource inside grief is love.
Love is always a resource, even if a relationship is strained. If love or any
kind of caring connection is expressed in a session indirectly or directly,
whether for a person, pet, or even a country or city, then utilize it to feed a
virtuous circle. We find this nicely illustrated in these examples:
When he first started art school I used to pose for him for his sketches
all the time.
My name is Hank but my wife has always called me Zeus.
I love her giggle.
get my hands on.
A client might also indicate that religion or spirituality is an important
part of his or her life:
I just start singing a little hymn in my head.
I know that God has a plan for me.
If clients express some kind of relationship to a higher power, whether
they call it God, gods, universe, holy mother, mystery, or some other name,
then recognize and respect this as a resource in their lives. With the exception of therapists who identify their practice as being tailored to a particular
religious or spiritual tradition, too often therapists fear or discomfort of allowing spirituality or religion to enter the therapy room results in an enormous resource in clients lives remaining untapped. If a family says, We rely
on God to get us through tough times, then find a way to respect and utilize
a resource they feel is already working for them, independent of whether or
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not you share their beliefs. When therapy is organized by improvisational

performance rather than interpretation, you need not know a lot about anothers tradition or belief system in order to utilize their resourceful metaphors and expression about it in a session.
Sometimes youll find that whatever is resourceful in a session doesnt
come from something spoken by clients, but by observing their interaction.
For example, we once did a case with a mother and teenage daughter. The
mother initiated the decision for them both to seek therapy because their relationship had become strained and they were arguing often. We discovered
during the first session that, despite the content of their expression being
about frustration and discord, they laughed together and playfully teased one
another quite often in the session. They also finished one anothers sentences
and sat quite close on the couch. During a pause in the conversation one of us
said with a hint of playful sarcasm, Well, you two certainly appear to be a
mother and daughter at each others throats and unable to get along. Both
mother and daughter erupted in laughter. Had we ignored their interaction
and paid attention only to the narratives about their relationship, we would
have undermined an equally valid truth about their experience that provided a
resource for change.
Practice: Feeding Resourceful Discourse
Once you learn to smell a resource, the next step involves utilizing it in
order to initiate and feed a virtuous circle. In this exercise we build on the
expressions listed in the previous section and practice different ways of utilizing them to move the session from problem-saturated discourse to that
which holds more possibility for creative change. One of the best exercises to
build this skill is to invent your own exchanges, either in solo practice or in a
role-play. In addition, practice discerning and utilizing resources in your
therapy practice, whether it is with new clients or those you have been seeing
for some time. Do so especially if your work with a client feels stalled. Keep
experimenting until something comes alive in the interaction. Once it does,
feed it and the session will take on a life of its own.
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Exercise: Inventing Exchanges that Feed Resourceful Discourse.

Part 1: For each expression listed in the previous exercise, come up with
five different responses that utilize and feed resourceful discourse (we offer
two examples below). You are free to invent the clients and the context of the
session. When we conduct this exercise in groups, we sometimes conduct a
rapid-fire exercise where everyone gets the chance to play the part of the
therapist and come up with at least one response to the clients expression,
without worrying about where to take the conversation next. This amplifies
skills in the improvisational handling of resourceful frames and encourages
therapists to take creative license with their responses.
Example 1:
Client: My name is Hank but my wife has always called me Zeus.
And now five possible responses:
1. Really? Thats extraordinary. In the history of all the couples we have
worked with, we have never met a couple where the wife calls her
husband, Zeus. Theres got to be an interesting story behind that.
2. I see Ive been talking to the wrong person. Ive heard from you and
now I want to talk to Zeus. Lets start all over. Zeus, its nice to meet
you (get up out of your chair and shake his hand).
3. (Turning to the wife) Thats quite a name to give someone. With all
the possible nicknames for a husband in the world, what makes him a
Zeus and not something else?
4. (To the husband) Im guessing you must have an equally interesting
nickname for her as well, am I right?
5. No wonder youre so up in the clouds! It makes sense that youre curious about staying grounded. But your wife is right; you sell yourself
short. Its time for you to take your rightful seat on the high ground.
Shes known something about you all along that even you dont see.
Arent you lucky to have someone in your life who believes in you?
Discerning a resource is often easier than knowing how to utilize it in-
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side an interaction in order to help a session take flight. The latter involves
mastery of performance skills, including knowing how to deliver a line with
authenticity and presence. Again, therapy is more than the words you speak;
everything from your voice, to your facial expression, to your posture and
especially your timing are part of the interaction. You must embody your
own performance the way an actor fully becomes the character he performs.
This invites and requires more of your authentic uniqueness to become part
of your therapy.
Example 2.
Client: Whenever I get to the end of my rope with him and feel like I just
cant take it anymore, I just start singing a little hymn in my head.
And now five possible responses:
1. My grandmother used to do that, too. Her favorite was Pass Me Not
Oh Gentle Savior. (You sing the first line.) Which is your favorite?
How does it go? (Here you are trying to actually bring the song into
the room and get her to sing it.)
2. Does your son know that you do that? Do you ever sing it to him out
loud.
3. You said earlier that you feel like God chose you to be able to get
through this, though youre not sure why. Now its clear: you know
how, when times are at their toughest, to keep a song alive in your
heart.
4. Who else knows this about youthat you have this special wisdom?
5. So you carry a song in your heart. Is the whole family this way? Does
your son have a song inside of him, too?
You can think of a resourceful expression on the part of the client as a
doorway that appears out of thin air. Whether you regard it as an exit, entrance, escape hatch, or gateway, its not enough to simply point to its presence. You must turn the knob and open the door. This is what it means to
feed resourceful discourse. You dont know where it will lead. It may simply
lead to another doorway, or seemingly lead nowhere, only to surprisingly
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show you exactly where to go next. The interaction with the client will guide
you. Sometimes the doorway is the opening to everything a client has ever
been waiting for. Clients bring their unique gifts and treasures with them to
therapy, but bringing them to life requires a special interaction with another.
Part 2. As soon as you have five possible responses that utilize a clients
resourceful expression, the next practice is to utilize whatever comes next to
feed the turning of a virtuous circle in the session. Begin with one response,
and then imagine at least two different possibilities for what the client might
say in return. Our example:
Client: My name is Hank but my wife has always called me Zeus.
Therapist: (To the husband) Im guessing you must have an equally interesting nickname for her as well, am I right?
Client Response 1: Yes, I call her Pineapple.
Client Response 2: Nope. I dont have a nickname for her.
Client Response 3: Actually I have two. At home I call her Pineapple but when
we go out with friends I call her Iris.
Based on the client responses you come up with, invent an ensuing exchange that feeds resourceful discourse. If the client responds, Nope. I dont
have a nickname for her, then utilize this communicated difference in their
relationshipthe fact that he has a nickname and hers is missing. You can
ask, Why not? Or inquire as to whether he may have tried to give her one,
but it didnt stick. Ask if she wants one. Consider inviting the husband to act:
If you gave her a name, what would it be? Perhaps ask his wife, If he gave
you a name, what would it be? Continue with, Do you want more than one
name? Or do you want one name at home and another name in public?
You could send them home that week and give the husband the task of
inventing the perfect nickname for her. Because nicknames are best when
they are not purposefully contrived but arise spontaneously, youll have to
discuss with them the best way to prepare the ground for the nickname to
come forth naturally. You might suggest that each night before going to sleep
she make a special drawing on a piece of paper. Perhaps its a message that
says, I love my new name followed by a blank signature line that waits be-
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ing filled in. Her husband is then instructed to sleep on it, wondering if it will
deliver him the name in a dream. You might want him to place a pencil or
pen under his pillow as well, so his dream can use it to fill in the blank.
Imagine the clients returning the next week and telling you that the
husband did receive a name in a dream, but it wasnt for his wife: I heard a
voice say, Your therapist is missing a name. Go back and tell her that her
name is Myrtle. At this point you almost fall out of your chair, not only because Myrtle is the name you gave to a little wooden mask that hung on the
wall in your grandparents beach cottage when you were a child, but because
that week you had a dream as well. In that dream, a voice told you, Zeuss
wife is not missing a name. Tell them to go to the river. While you have no
idea what that means, the couples mouths drop open. The wife says, My
grandmother just passed away last month. She left me her little cabin by the
river. We were debating whether or not to keep it or sell it.
Whats in a name? It could be the missing piece of a mystery that was
waiting for an interesting couple and a creative therapist to dream each other
a new direction. Yes, this sort of thing happens. And it is most likely to occur
when you are far away from the problem-solution dumping ground, and flying into unknown creative heights.
When inventing sessions that feed resourceful discourse, keep the structure of a three-act play in mind. Remember you are helping the session move
along a plot line from so-called impoverished frames to more resourceful
ones. To get there, you must bring about a transitory middle act. If the client
responds, I call her Pineapple or, Actually I have two nicknames for her
then you have something to work with to create the momentum for a virtuous circle. Go ahead and invent a few possible storyboards for the session,
such as:
1. Distant Couple ------->
2. Magical Nicknames Waiting to Be Used ------>
3. The Adventures of Zeus and Pineapple
1. Constant Arguing ------>
2. A Marriage Missing a Magical Name ------->
3. The Couple that Nicknamed their Marriage.
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You can ask anything about their names you can think of, including the
story behind each, whether she likes her name, who else knows about the
names, how long theyve had these names, if its time for a new name, or does
one prefer their nickname more than the other. Maybe there is a client waiting to be asked, Do you think that Nick is a good nickname for all nicknames? Or another client might benefit from being told to go past individual nicknames and instead come up with a special relational nickname for
their marriage. Or a nick-knack-name if you want to catch them off guard.
The latter would certainly include the possibility of hunting for a totem or
knickknack that could inspire even more creative adventure in the session.
Follow your nose and feed whatever line of conversation creates movement
and momentum in the interaction.
Practice: Out-of-Frame Attractors
In the previous chapter we discussed out-of-frame distractors that can
help rescue a session that is drowning in problem talk. You have another option, which is to utilize an out-of-frame attractor. If a session feels lifeless,
boring, or caught in a vicious circle with no resourceful expression in sight,
you can invite a more invigorating shift by stepping out of the habituated
frame. An out-of-frame attractor is a question or statement that doesnt fit
the topic of conversation. You may take a metaphor already spoken by a client and place it in another more resourceful frame, or you can interrupt the
current line of discourse with a different direction entirely. It all depends on
what feels right in the moment. Keeping the three-act plot line in mind and
following your nose for distinguishing vicious versus virtuous circles, practice
inventing and using out-of-frame attractors in your therapy.
Exercise: Inventing and Practicing Out-of-Frame Attractors
In the following, we offer some examples of out-of-frame attractors. The
best way to build this skill is in live sessions or in a role-play, because again,
half the magic of an out-of-frame attractor is in the therapists delivery of the
line. If you find it too challenging to start by inventing them live in a session,
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then spend some time inventing them in private. Pretty soon you will develop the capacity to think and act out-of-frame in the real-time interaction
of a session. Some examples:
When was the last time you ate a tasty dessert?
Which hand worries about your cancer more, your right or your left?
When is the last time you moved the furniture around in your house?
Has anyone in your family ever sent Santa Claus a Valentines Day
card?
Depending on how it feels in the moment, you can always build up to
your statement, easing its entry into the conversation by using the following:
This may seem out of the blue, but
A question just popped into my head. Im not sure what it means, but if
its okay with you Id like to ask it anyway
Heres an interesting thought that just occurred to me. It may sound a
bit odd. What if you
Excuse me, I am having an interesting gut feeling. I dont know why I
am asking this, but it came up inside of me. I trust these gut feelings even
when they may not make sense at first. Heres what I want to ask without
knowing why. Perhaps you will know. Have you ever
When authentically voiced, these are all ways of building the anticipation or drama of the moment. It can be equally dramatic, however, to simply
ask a question or make a statement without foreshadowing that you are
about to leap out of the box or jump tracks:
Whats the most unusual thing that has ever happened to you? (We
interrupted a client and asked this right out of the blue during his monologue about some other topic. It turned out he had had something very unusual happen to him. It broke open the case.)
What if I told you that tonight you would have a dream that would
change your life forever? How would that change the way you walk out of
this session?
Do you ever sing to your cat?
If you woke up tomorrow morning and discovered that your house was
painted a different color, how would that change the way you are currently
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thinking about your life?

If you two could build something in your backyard, perhaps a special
structure like a hut or a yurt or a tree house, what would it be?
A resource-focused therapy emphasizes working inside the weave of
interactivity in a session, utilizing whatever uniquely arises in the course of a
session to guide your next move. This improvisational approach allows you to
better serve whatever has life in it, changing your course of action as the interaction unfolds. Sometimes you may pick up on and feed a particular resourceful metaphor or expression, only to find it doesnt end up going where
you thought it might, but instead leads to something else. Or perhaps it takes
a brief flight and then fizzles out, only to arise again later to become part of
the session finale.
An example of the latter comes from a case we did called The Lightning
King (in Keeney & Keeney, 2013). A man came to see us for help dealing with
his 30-year-old sons alcoholism and some other stressful issues. In the beginning of the first session, based on an intuition, we asked the client, out of the
blue, if he had anything unusual or interesting on his desk at work. It turned
out that he had a carved frog figurine that someone had given him. Apparently he had quite a frog collection at home. People started giving him frog
collectibles in his mid-20s.
He previously mentioned that his son had almost died three times (due
to alcohol and drugs). The conversation left the topic of frogs when we asked
if he, too, had experienced any brushes with death. It turned out that our
client had been struck by lightning when he was in his mid-20s. Later, we
asked if getting struck by lightning had anything to do with his frog collection. It turned out that people began giving him frogs after he was struck by
lightning. Furthermore, live frogs started showing up around his house. A lot
of frogs! He became known for the frogs in his yard and the collection he had
inside his house. We gave him a new nickname and he responded with this
declaration, Im the Lightning King. I was struck by lightning, and then the
frogs came. We were able to resourcefully work within this new framing of
his life.
Always follow your nose when it comes to feeding a resource, even when
58
you dont know where it will lead. In fact, assume you wont know until both
you and the client find yourself caught up in the creative flow of a virtuous
circles movement. As we discussed in Chapter One, a session must dance
through a middle act in order to arrive at the end. Like great theatre, both the
actors and the audience must get swept up in the drama in order to be taken
somewhere by the performance. Once the virtuous circle starts turning, it
catches both you and the client. When it happens, the room buzzes and everyone feels more alive. In other words, everyone needs to get struck by creative
lightning, and then all manner of unexpected gifts arrive without effort.
Draw a lightning bolt on the back of your professional license. Consider
it more important than the license itself. Every time you feel a bolt of creative inspiration awaken a session, get up and take your license off the wall.
Mark the lightning bolt so you can keep track of how many times creative
lightning strikes your therapy. When you get hit 25 times, consider that you
are then truly licensed, not by the passage of a trivial multiple choice exam,
but by a significant number of authentic therapeutic awakenings. At this
point, paint the frame that holds your license. Choose whatever color you
think symbolizes that you are creatively awakened, and then consider how
lightning is more important than knowing. If it pleases you, write these
words on the back of your license, right underneath the previously drawn
lightning bolt: Being hit by a bolt helps a therapist be more than a dolt. Or
if you prefer, A surprising bolt helps my growth. Or as we have written on
the backside of our creative license, A bolt can start a therapeutic revolt.

Feeding Virtuous Circles

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Feeding Virtuous Circles

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From Creative Therapeutic Technique: Skills for the Art of Bringing Forth Change

by Hillary Keeney and Bradford Keeney.