Metaphor

Why does it matter?

Metaphors matter because they are the building blocks of how we communicate. That we do not consciously understand their role in our lives is not really that important – we ‘get it’ on another level, an unconscious level. In fact we understand them on so many different levels at the same time it is positively quantum.

When we hear a story, be it a faerie tale or a bit of gossip (especially when it is told well and with lots of detail) we make in our minds a collage of feelings, sounds and pictures; some will go as far as to smell the story – olfactory senses are the last to leave us and are used to great success in the cases of Alzheimer’s patients therapy.

Our main system of collating information will attach the words we hear to one of the above senses primarily and bring the rest of the senses on board in descending order. We conceptualise the words that are being used and they build a picture of the scenario so that if we are being told in detail a story, any story, we can experience it ourselves and make mental notes of how we would have done it differently or how we admire the main character and agree or not with their point of view.

What is the point of this?

It is in the knowing of this that we can utilise metaphor itself as a therapeutic tool. We can take a story and weave it around a person’s own experiences and make them see a different ending to the chapter.

In Hindu culture stories are still quite often ‘prescribed’ to a person who is ill. In Tibet they are used to gently chastise and promote good behaviour.

The way we get the stories across in the media may have changed a bit – but we still want to know what our neighbours are doing and let’s face it the stories we love the most are the quirky ones.

The reason we have so many different genres of story – there is one for every taste and mood, is because of the so many different personalities there are and how they like to perceive their worlds is through the stories they choose to read and to tell. It is therefore not surprising that we can change a person’s outlook on their lives, on their habits on their lack of self-esteem if we can tell them a story that they can relate to. We tell their story, allowing them to change their reactions to situations, change their attitudes to themselves and to others to allow them to see themselves as the wonderful and unique beings that we all can be. Showing them that change happens, it happens all the time and it can be something to be looked forward to; something to be celebrated.

How many successful people do you know that if asked would always have a favourite story that they heard not necessarily as a child, which changed the way they looked at life? When you found this out, did you not want to read that story for yourself – just to see what the magic was?

How many of you reading this have read a book or heard a story that made you think about something that you had never thought about before… a story that made you laugh or cry, one that made you so mad you could have spit feathers; then, just had to go and tell someone about it?

A story is a journey; it has a beginning, middle and an end. A story is a life, it has a past a present and a future, until the journey is ended the future has not yet been written,

We write our own story every day; we choose which paths we walk. We choose which stories we pass onto our descendants, we edit our past and we tell our present as we see fit. Truths are always a matter of perspective. We cannot see our endings, but we can change them. We have all the tools at our disposal to change them; we have all the knowledge from Snow White to Cinderella to Little Red Riding Hood, from the legends of heroes of old to the Native American tales of Coyote and Bear, and to Brer Rabbit or even Noddy from the pen of Enid Blyton.

They all have the same things in common. They all tell a tale of need, desire, achievement, and perseverance and of knowledge over brute strength. They tell of the underdog winning over the despots and dictators, they tell of the persistent suitor. They tell of the underbelly of human existence in all its gore and stench that can still be conquered if the hero is true of heart and believes in themselves enough.

They tell us how it is done, they tell us that even in the deepest of forests when we feel lost and overwhelmed we can still find our way home, that we have learned the lessons and know that we have resources at our disposal; resources that we have had always we just didn’t know we had them. Like walking we didn’t know we could until we did, and when we did we did it again and again until we did it really well, we began an adventure every time we put one foot in front of the other.

Not just for kids, but for us adults too. We should be reminded that magic is healing and both are to be found in a story.

What is your favourite? Tell it to yourself again, find your favourite part, be your favourite character, be in the story.
What does it feel like, do you hear the words the same or differently now? Can you see how this could help you with that situation you keep finding yourself in…?

Shamans tell stories, it is what we do. We tell them to keep tradition, to keep histories to teach and to heal in the form of a journey. Mostly we tell them in order to remember what we nearly forgot. Do you remember?
Once upon a time…