DAY 4 - Talk With Your Future Self

The 100 Day Motivational Interviewing Experiment

A really good open ended question is like gold

It is precious.

A few came through yesterday in the comments

• “What about the situation made you feel unsafe?”

• “What conversation is taking up most space in your head?”

• “Where are you at with this return to IV use?”

• “What's your day like today?”

• “What are you thoughts about what the doctor said about CBT and no medication?”

• “What helped you go on living?”

Just reading through these the beauty of curiosity and open-ended questions comes shining through. Thanks so much to everyone who shared their experiences and ideas yesterday

Want to catch up? See what others are sharing? No problem!

Did you stumble into this post and have no idea what MI (Motivational Interviewing) is? Also no problem. Read on.

Todays Prompt: DAY 4 - Talk With Your Future Self

Thinking about the future consequences of current decisions can have life changing benefits. And on top of that, time-travel is cool!

What would you like to say to your future self
about this decision you are facing
(or about this time in your life?

This is not exactly one of those general MI techniques.

It's just a lovely open-ended question that evokes wonderful responses.

I remember reading a study years ago then just talking about time and time travel puts the Mind into a sort of mindful meditative state. In Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) we sort of think of this as “perspective taking”, stepping out of yourself, out of your current self, and looking at your situation from a different perspective. This has numerous benefits, including a de-fusing of being stuck in the current mindset.

In researching this idea I came across several interesting videos, one, an description of an ai journalling platform called Future Self, and a TED Talk.

But you don’t need high-tech to ask this.

You can just old school it

Give it a try and see how it goes, and let’s us know in the comments.

Five years from now
what decision do you wish
you had made today

Want to Join in?

Just start! And tell us what you did in the comments below
And feel free to comment on your fellow traveler’s write-ups!

You Decide

Some folks are starting small, with just 7 days of MI, some are committing to 3 times a week, some are going for 30 days, and some are going to try for the full 100 days. You decide.

We definitely did not want to be provoking anyone's perfectionism with this experiment!

DARN CATS rowing with OARS

If you're catching up with this for the first time here's the idea:

• Commit yourself to a time limited intentional practice of MI

• Tell us what you did every time you do it, put it in the comments of the daily Substack prompt

My Commitment to You

I am committing to helping out by sending a daily blog post on Substack everyday for the next 100 days. The post will include prompts and ideas of what people are doing which might stir your interest in the project and for that day. You are free to try the prompt idea for that day, or do your own thing. Every attempt at practicing MI is welcome!

Low Barriers

As you may know I am interested in providing MI training with the lowest barriers possible: MI Practice and MI Snacks are free and you don't even have to register, you just show up. I’m hoping we can do this the same way here on Substack.

Ready to Start?

Let’s go!

Sky

PS - If you are wondering how and why you are getting this, you signed up to receive emails and substack blog posts from me when you registered for the free MI Practice and Snacks. If this is no longer meeting your interests, you are free to unsubscribe at any time.

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MI BASICS CLASS: The Power of Listening
Get the most of out the free practice sessions
May 23, 2024

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We are all in this together

Sky Kershner, LPC, ALPS, LCSW, DMin
Assistant Professor, WVU School of Medicine
MINT Certified Trainer of Motivational Interviewing
AAMFT Approved Supervisor / Member IEDTA / PACT L2
304-220-0088 / www.wv-mi.com / the mi-ai practice space