Last month I attended the Third Rocky Mountain Eating Disorder Conference, hosted by The Eating Recovery Center in Denver, Colorado. My goal in attending any professional event is to come away with one specific idea that I bring back to my practice. From this conference, I was struck by the question “what moves you forward?”

I love the framing of the question. The therapist is not imposing her goals or ideas on the person seeking help. Instead the therapist is asking the client to consider her own goals to see what response or reaction may more readily move her in the direction she has said she wants to go. I think the question may allow a client to engage in a conversation about change without feeling pushed into doing something she does not feel capable of doing or ready to try. At the same time, though, the question focuses on the client’s life, her goals, the need for awareness and clarity about what one really desires out of life.

Apply this to yourself: as you go through the events of this day (whenever you might be reading this), try framing decisions through the lens of “what moves me forward right now?”