There are so many metaphors, so many analogies in our daily life that can be used to transfer information to others at a deeper level without them being consciously aware of what is being said.
Part of the power of
Milton Erickson and thus what Richard Bandler and John Grinder incorporated into NLP is the use of metaphors.
Milton Erickson and thus what Richard Bandler and John Grinder incorporated into NLP is the use of metaphors.
Milton Erickson when working with clients, friends of foe, would relate a story of perhaps his friend John being able to do certain things, go about doing an action in a different way, overcoming difficulties. It was whilst listening to these stories, metaphors, that the client would try to make sense of them, understand them, to go on a Transderivational Search, and in doing so would place their own understanding on what Milton Erickson was saying.
They would place their own “cat on the mat” on the analogy.
Our brain does not know what is reality at a subconscious level, what is real or what is just a thought. Yes of course most people can tell the difference on a conscious level the difference of reality and internal thoughts, but certain types of people, as depicted in the film about John Nash, A Beautiful Mind, do not have the ability to distinguish between the two states.
Thus, as a metaphor is being told, the client, the listener, will be processing the story “as if it is real” at a subconscious level, but putting their own understanding upon it by linking it to previous experiences or learnings. Once a memory trace is in the head, the brain, a story, an idea, it cannot be removed, giving the listener to possibility of choice.
I love telling metaphors in my courses, taking an idea, a comment, and weaving a story or metaphor around it to get a message across.
Sitting in my garden here in Bukit Mertajam, Malaysia, there are many plants trying to grow. I say trying to grow, because the builders of the house had removed all the nourishing top soil, leaving a virtually inert sandy land, devoid of any nutrients, life giving growing material. The best way of growing plants is to grow them in pots. The grass lawn, struggles to cover the whole area, leaving patches of gravel which seems to emerge from deep below the surface, further depriving the struggling grass any foothold.
The heavy tropical rain, further washes away any nutrients from the soil.
Yet plants seem to survive, although growing much at a slower rate in the tropical heat.
One such plant in the garden is a palm tree, which over the eight years it has lived in the garden, has not significantly grown.
Growing within its’ stems or leaves, attaching itself to the truck of the palm is an orchid, a Pigeon Orchid, which takes its’ food from the air itself. The high humidity keeps the orchid wet enough. It again does not grow very fast, and causes no problems to anyone or thing, in fact it just goes unnoticed most of the year.
But once a year the Pigeon Orchid sends out stems and for just one or two days, when there is a sudden drop in temperature, with wonderful perfumed flowers developing, white, fragrant, with a yellow
tinted throat. so delicate, clean. A beauty to behold.
tinted throat. so delicate, clean. A beauty to behold.
It brings with it a shock of beauty that makes you pleased that you have this in your life. Happiness, joy and love reigns.
Just as suddenly as the blooms have developed, the flowers are gone. Just two days. But you know in your heart that the experience can never be taken away from you, and if you can just wait, you will have that happiness, love and joy again, as the blooms come back, perhaps even stronger.
With the right environment, providing nutrients and food, caring and love, even the grass may grow.