Chapter 17: Telling Tales to Reach the Unconscious: Stories, Fables, and Metaphors 271
awake at night?’, ‘Are there some scary bits?’, ‘Perhaps people need to sleep
on this for a while?’, ‘How would you like to get this put to bed?’, and ‘So in
your wildest dreams, what would you see happening?’Anthony is a therapist who works with clients with addictive behaviours. He
told us:I had a client who told me about the pleasure she derived from her drinking
until it got out of control. Initially she described the delight of her favourite
tipple – the anticipation and smell of the first glass, how appealing it looked
in the bottle, beautifully packaged and presented. But as she went on to
describe the feelings of helplessness as the addiction overtook her, the alcohol
was transformed into an ugly spirit that haunted and frightened her. Over
a period of time, we were able to work with her story, develop the plot and
rework it to have a happier ending. She could then believe in a future where
she could break free from the addiction that was overwhelming her life.Employing direct and indirect metaphors......................................
NLP distinguishes between direct and indirect types of metaphors:✓ A direct metaphor compares one situation with another that has an
obvious link in terms of the type of content. For example, it may
compare learning a new computer software application with learning to
drive: both are about learning.
✓ An indirect metaphor makes comparisons that aren’t immediately obvious.
For example, it may compare learning new computer software with
cooking a meal or planning a holiday. Such indirect metaphors form the
basis of the most creative advertising campaigns.
Building Your Own Stories
In her ‘Passion to Publication’ writing workshops, Kate encourages budding
authors to create their own Origin Stories and then develop them into an
article or book. These stories are the personal ones that have fired up the
person’s passion for what they’re writing about and relate the times when
the writer felt the extremes of emotion – from peaks of excitement to troughs
of anxiety. As each person in the group shares a story, it inevitably fires up
new stories for the other writers as they connect the writer’s experience with
similar ones of their own. The most convincing writing tells compelling
stories, just as the most compelling tales are those told from the heart.Strong communicators recognise the power of story to achieve rapport more
readily and entrance their audience – whether that is with one person or
many. Indeed much therapeutic work depends on the narrative form of