I have been thinking about Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
a lot lately, and it seems that I am not the only one. I have come across a few articles and books
that contain the GPS metaphor. It is
usually used to illustrate how goal-setting works.
Two of the most important influences when it comes to my way
of thinking about goals with my therapy clients have been my studies in A
Course in Miracles and my training in Rapid Resolution Therapy (RRT) with
Dr. Jon Connelly. Both of them have
taught me the importance of having a clear goal at the outset – a vision of my
client and the goal of our work together.
In Chapter 17 of the Text of A Course in Miracles, in
a section called “Setting the Goal,” we read:
“The clarification of the goal belongs at the beginning, for
it is this which will determine the outcome.”
“The value of deciding in advance what you want to happen is
simply that you will perceive the situation as a means to make it happen. You will
therefore make every effort to overlook what interferes with the accomplishment
of your objective, and concentrate on everything that helps you meet it.”
Dr. Connelly has made it very clear to me that the most
important step in RRT is for me to set my intention for the client before they
even enter my office. He also calls this
the “target.” I am to conceive of the
client with his or her mind working to their best advantage. I like to think of it as a “vision” of my
client – where they are clear, focused, fully present – where they are healed,
whole and holy.
Once I have this target in mind I will clarify it and make
it more specific to my client as I get to know them better and understand how
things have been for them. Once I
understand how things have been for them, I can then clarify the goal and
communicate it to my client. I
communicate both my understanding of
where they have been and my vision of
the target. Once this vision is shared
and the client agrees with it, we now have a shared goal. Now, their energy and my energy are joined,
and the joining of energy can’t help but to expand and power the shift in the
direction of the goal.
Here is where the GPS metaphor comes in to play. Now that we have programmed in the goal and
are clear on how things have been for the client, everything else that happens
in the session will be “set up” to lead the client from how things have been to
how things are now intended. Our
internal GPS has been programmed. Anything
that I need to do to help the client reach the target will come to me as I keep
these two things clear in my mind – maintaining a dual focus: 1) how things
have been, and 2) how things are intended.
Even if I make a “mistake” or lead the client down the wrong
path, the internal GPS will “recalculate” and get us back on track. In reality, then, there are no mistakes. There is no way we can fail to reach the
target as long as we maintain our shared goal.
The means is clear when the goal is clear.
Through my training in RRT I have learned many tools to help
people along the way to the target. When
I was first training in RRT, I was very nervous about whether or not I was
going to remember all of the various processes Dr. Connelly was teaching. He assured me that it would all come to me as
long as I maintained this dual perspective.
I decided to trust him and to trust the training I was receiving. Since then, I have been amazed at how much I
do remember and at how easily each process comes to my mind when I am working
with a client. Even for therapists who
are not trained in RRT, keeping this dual perspective can be very helpful.
If I am traveling somewhere and I want to use my GPS to get
there, I have to know where I want to go first.
I can’t just tell my GPS, “I want directions to somewhere, but I don’t
know where.” Once I decide where I am
going, I program that in the GPS. The
GPS then gets my current position and calculates the best route to take to get
me where I want to go.
No matter what approach to therapy you might utilize, it is
important to have a clear goal in mind for your client. As you meet with your client, you can clarify
the goal based on your understanding of where they have been. Notice the use of past tense – “where they have been.” Clients are going to talk about how things
are currently going for them and
might even talk about how it will always
be this way. Subtly changing the tense
when we talk with our clients can make a big difference in how they see
themselves and in how they conceive of the “problems” they are seeking to
alleviate. They talk about how things are and will always be. We talk
about how things have been for them
and how things are intended.
Of course as clients are coming to see us their difficulties
are current. However, we reflect it back to them with this
tense change (from present to past) as a way to move them in the direction we want
for them. If we use the same tense and
continue to talk about the problems as if they are current realities, we are
reinforcing the “stuckness.” We also
remind them over and over again that the events of the past are over. RRT does not change what happened. Instead we are transforming the way the mind
has been processing what happened.
I have been trying to think of what “GPS” can stand for in
therapy. What I have come up with is “Goal-Powered
Synergy.” “Synergy” is defined as the
interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is
greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc. It is basically a form of “cooperative
action.” Coming up with a shared goal
with our clients sets in motion this “Goal-Powered Synergy” that can’t help but
lead us in the right direction.
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