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Optimism Boosters
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| The Strengths Cafe is an online publishing project sponsored by Innovative Resources. find out more:
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A set of cards based on the power of questions
'The right question can change our brain chemistry by increasing possibility, control and motivation.' Selina Byrne, author of Optimism Boosters.
The right question at the right time can open us up to fresh ways of seeing a situation. A question can stop our tired and negative thought patterns in their tracks. Suddenly, we see possibilities that we simply did not think of before. Yes, questions can boost our levels of optimism.
Sometimes the right question might be a surprising one, such as 'What story am I telling myself about this?' Or it might be a quirky one such as 'What are the humorous aspects of this situation?' Or it might be a challenging one such as 'What is my part in creating this situation?'
Practising psychologist Selina Byrne has drawn on the power of questions to create Optimism Boosters. Each of the 30 cards in this elegant, full-colour set creates a window into change by asking a key question. There are three suits-goals, possibilities and strategies-and ten question cards in each suit. The set comes with a booklet.
Place Optimism Boosters on your desk and dip into the cards when you need a quantum boost into a different way of thinking. Use them when you are chatting with friends about decisions and choices, or use them more formally in your work with clients. |
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Letter from Chris Iveson
In the following letter a solution-focused trainer from England, Chris Iveson, recounts the story of his first encounter with one of our newest resources, Optimism Boosters. Written by practising psychologist, Selina Byrne, each of the 30 cards in this little set creates a window into change by asking a key question. There are three suits-goals, possibilities and strategies-and ten question cards in each suit. People can dip into the cards with their friends, clients or students for fresh ways of thinking about problems and decision.
Dear Innovative Resources,
I was doing a leadership course the day my package arrived and I opened it while people were doing a small group exercise around a real and current issue in their roles as leaders. It's a nice exercise with lots of solution-focused questions about a future in which the issues have been resolved and what parts of the current circumstances might prove to be part of the successful future's history. It's an exercise that works really well if the person asking the questions has grasped the rudiments of solution-focused thinking. It lasts about twenty minutes, usually with a helpful outcome. So while they were doing this I opened your Optimism Boosters cards.
Seven minutes before lunch I announced that there would be no refunds even though I'd just discovered a way to solution-focused leadership that they could buy for a few pounds and use instantly. Everyone who had not had a chance to work on a current problem picked one card from each of the three categories (goals, strategies and possibilities) and their partner simply asked the question on the cards. We stopped for lunch dead on time with most people saying it had been very helpful.
So what's the idea of threatening our livelihood with these shallow devices that help people far too easily? Couldn't you do some pain and misery cards for a change?
Soon all my supervision sessions will begin with: 'Pick a card, any card.'
Chris Iveson |
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Supporting AIDS Victims and Orphans in Uganda
New South Wales social worker, Sue McCarthy, shares some of the stories and photos from her time in Uganda.
In June 2005 social worker Sue McCarthy flew to Africa to share some ideas with Ugandan colleagues about working with children who are disabled and dying. (This is her specialist area back on the New South Wales Central Coast of Australia.)
A group of Ugandan social workers had been trying for some time to raise funds for Sue to go there, or for one of them to come to Australia. Many of the children they work with are AIDS victims and orphans. Sue was so moved by the huge challenges they are facing in their work and in their lives that she decided to fund a trip there herself.
Shortly before setting off, Sue contacted St Luke's Innovative Resources wondering if we might be able to assist with making resources available for the workers in Uganda. She told us that she planned to leave some of her own collection of our resources behind.
Innovative Resources was able to support with a donation of a few sets of cards and this was augmented by donations from several other St Luke's staff members. It was this and a number of other requests that prompted Innovative Resources to begin thinking about setting up a Trust for making resources available in a systematic and sustainable way. Any funds donated by Innovative Resources or by other organisations and individuals will be used to make our card packs, stickers and books available to developing countries.
Sue ran workshops in three towns in Uganda-Kampala , Kayunga, and Nakasongola.
She said in her email to us: 'I am so grateful for the cards and stickers. I had prepared material and put it on my laptop computer but in Uganda, even if there is power, it is off a lot of the time. So I quickly abandoned using the laptop and used the cards. The groups were much larger than I anticipated. Originally, I was only going to provide information about the therapeutic work that I do using the cards. At one of the workshops many disabled people arrived, keen to find out how their community can be helped. Fortunately, I have worked from a community development model. The Optimism Boosters cards were very useful for them to begin looking at setting a plan of action that they were all together on; setting a priority to all work on, rather than vying for each little faction.
'By the time the Minister for Ageing and Disability, Florence Naige, arrived they had an agenda that they wanted to discuss. Their idea was for her to approach the government for loans to be made to disabled people so that they can begin businesses, in the same way that the government makes loans to young people to buy motorcycles to use as taxis. It was interesting to see this fairly large group turn from 'We can't do anything' to 'We have an idea, we have a plan, and we can do it'.
'The motor cycle loan system is interesting: the young person usually has the loan paid back within six months and it assists with transport because there is no public transport system in Uganda-just many bikes and taxi vans.
'Many of the schools in Uganda are boarding schools. Curious, until I discovered that the boarding schools are defacto orphanages. The main residents in the boarding schools have no living relative to care for them, and so school is their family as well as their home. I met some amazing people there-people whose main task is to find ways to help these children complete their education and when they leave school, create employment and a peer support model of living because AIDS has removed a lot of the 20- to 40-year age group.'
About the Author of Optimism Boosters
Selina Byrne is a psychologist and clinical nutritionist specialising in mood, energy and well being solutions. Selina conducts her private practice at her centre, Arrival Mind Body Health (Prahran, Melbourne, Australia) working with people wanting to boost mood, raise energy levels, improve health, overcome stress or anxiety, develop better relationships and improve career prospects. In addition to her work with individuals, couples and families, Selina also works on peak performance with athletes, students, musicians, actors and business people.
Selina is a regular speaker at conferences, seminars and professional development workshops, providing innovative, practical and action-oriented programs addressing staff/student wellbeing, optimism and resilience, influence skills, mood management, mood nutrition and the brain chemistry of motivation and success. Selina also provides training for teachers, psychologists, health practitioners and counsellors in how to incorporate mood boosting strategies into their work. |
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Using the Optimism Boosters
What is Optimism?
If optimism is NOT positive thinking, then what is it?
Optimism involves generating:
Most people assume that optimism is the same as positive thinking. Positive thinking is when you reassure yourself that a positive outcome will occur, or you try to visualise the positive outcome in the hope that this will increase the chances of it occurring. The optimism approach is a bit different because it focuses on how you can face your situation and choose the best strategy for adapting to that situation. Optimism requires you to focus on your desired state (how you want things to be) while you check the story you are telling yourself about the situation.
For example, many people feel unhappy with their health or fitness. A positive thinking approach might involve affirming to yourself that you are becoming healthier every day. While this might be momentarily uplifting, it may not trigger follow-through action. Using the optimism approach, we would firstly clarify where the person wanted to be in terms of their health or fitness. We might then help them to identify a specific, 'small chunk' goal in relation to their health. We might listen to the story they are telling themselves ('I don't have time to do exercise' or 'It's too late to start at my age' or 'I hate doing exercise') and ask a question that allows them to consider other possibilities ('Where is the evidence for that?' or 'What would an on-looker say about this?') We would then ask another question that might help to generate strategies the person could use to improve their fitness/health. For example, 'What have you done in the past that might help?' or 'What do others in your situation do?'
Using the Optimism Boosters card pack can help you ask yourself (or others) questions to clarify your goal, see possibilities for improving your situation and generate actions that you can immediately take to improve things.
Ideas for Using the Cards There are many different ways to use the Optimism Booster card pack to provide new perspectives on your situation. You might choose to use the cards to stimulate thinking, you might use them to prompt journal entries, and you can use them to trigger conversations with friends or in counselling.
The number of cards you use is up to you. You can use one or you can use all thirty for an in-depth analysis of your situation. The possibilities for sequences and spreads are as open as your creativity. You might use a three-card spread, with one card from each of the three sections. You might use a six- or nine-card spread, with two or three questions from each section. You may wish to select a single card for a period of reflection, letting it sit on your desk (the box folds back into a stand). Or alternatively, if you need some quick inspiration you can close your eyes and let your intuition direct you to the card you may need for that moment.
Psychologists, counsellors, social workers, teachers and other human service professionals can use the cards to trigger questions that promote optimism. Clients or students can also be encouraged to choose a card to start or end a conversation. The pack can also be used when clients or students get stuck, helping to provide a new direction for the conversation. Groups may wish to use the cards to create conversations about their goals and to develop strategies for reaching these goals.
You can use the card pack with friends in difficulty, children, family members and partners. In relationship counselling, each partner can choose a series of cards for themselves or for the other person, as a starting point to conversations, and as a way of uncovering their values and expectations.
A note of caution: Sometimes our analysis of a difficult situation can trigger further confusion or distress. You may find that you need to access a qualified counsellor or psychologist to assist you, should this occur. These cards are a useful tool to use to help you see your situation differently, but there are times when a tool is simply inappropriate and it is important to work with a skilled professional. In whatever situation that the cards are introduced, it is important to be very respectful of different cultural perspectives and different factors that may be at play, such as timing and confidentiality. |
