Nlp Training

PART 2 The world is a complex place, we are complex beings and communication is a complex process; the description of events to meaning is reduced by the intervention of metaphor and symbolism. A picture paints a thousand words, as does a metaphor. We use metaphor and symbolism to paint the picture of our communication; to drive meaning from experience to our listeners so that they can interpret the meaning of our experience without us having to explain in literal detail. Metaphor bridges the gap from the complex process of communication into a simplified universal experience that people can interpret and understand through the use of symbolic representations. Metaphor turns a complex world with complex beings and complex communication into a simple interpretive experience shared by all. "In all aspects of life, we define our reality in terms of metaphors and then proceed to act on the basis of the metaphors. We draw inferences, set goals, make commitments, and execute plans, all on the basis of how we in part structure our experience, consciously and unconsciously, by means of metaphor" George Lakoff and Mark Johnson: Metaphors We Live By The expansiveness and interpretive-ness of metaphors enables a therapist to deliver an intervention whereby the client will not make literal meaning of the metaphor. The ability to consciously interpret the meaning and decide whether to take the metaphor as an agent of change or not is not left up to the clients conscious mind. Therapeutic metaphors allow the client to derive their own meaning and make parallel connections from the metaphor to their own circumstances at an unconscious level. This allows the therapist to deliver an intervention whereby the clients' unconscious is used for processing the meaning and change. The reason why metaphors are powerful as a change agent is because the behaviour that the client wishes to change was first created at an unconscious level. Attempting to change the behaviour consciously is like driving everywhere in first gear, it has limited value outside of 15 miles an hour and will take you an age to get anywhere, if at all. The client usually does not have direct access to their unconscious processes, so the act of the metaphor is to mobilise these resources and create triggers for further change, expansion and development. The client will most likely have consciously tried to make the change themselves. By offering the client an intervention that utilises their conscious processes to change, therapists limit the ability of the client to mobilise their most powerful change agent- their unconscious mind. Metaphors are a powerful and non-invasive way of providing change to our clients while preserving the ecology of change. Defining the Therapeutic Metaphor Find out in Part 3... By: nlp training