Chapter 17: Telling Tales to Reach the Unconscious: Stories, Fables, and Metaphors 267
So, too, if you want to manage your career progression positively, don’t
wait until your annual performance review for your boss to hear how you’re
doing. As some of our successful clients have discovered, a few stories that
demonstrate achievements fed into conversations as a weekly diet over
lunch or coffee can be much more effective.Passing on a gift to the next generation
The storytelling tradition – from Greek myths, Arthurian legends, and Aesop’s
Fables through to modern writers – forms part of the rich human heritage
that connects past, present, and future generations. Similarly, the stories you
tell about your life (or hear about the lives of others in your family) perform
the same function – they connect generations as well.What stories do you love to hear and tell about your life? Perhaps you’ve
heard family stories about when you were born, your first day at school, or
the important events and people in your early life. Truth can be stranger and
more entertaining than fiction. And the tales get told and retold, each time
with fresh embellishment.Family tales that get handed down by word-of-mouth become lost as families
split and generations pass away. When Kate’s neighbour, Margaret, retired,
she took her interest in her family ancestors further than just compiling the
family tree. Her more permanent legacy to her family is a fascinating bound
collection of stories. Alongside the tree, she collected anecdotes from all living
members of the family. She published them for the family and later generations
to enjoy and understand more about their heritage. If you were to do the
same, what stories would you like to record for posterity?Here’s a game of anecdotes that may enliven a family get-together. Write out
five cards each with one of the following words: farce, thriller, comedy,
tragedy, TV soap. Take a card, think of a family anecdote, and tell a story in
the style that’s written on the card.Grasping the Power of Metaphors
Just as people tell stories all day, your ordinary conversations are richly
embroidered with metaphors. Consider these examples (with the metaphors
in italics):✓ ‘Look, it’s a jungle out there!’
✓ ‘He was putty in their hands.’