Powerful Life Metaphor Solutions

Powerful Life Metaphor Solutions to Change

Module 1 NLP Master Practitioner

2 days attendance. Investment and dates are at the foot of the page.

How do we define a metaphor? What use are metaphors to us?

There are two main definitions of metaphors;
1) Stories

2) Talking about something without mentioning the topic 

Stories
Just about every culture has stories be they religious or more traditional myths, sagas or tales. These are carefully crafted to teach the population valuable cultural principles and moral life lessons. These are stories by design to have a specific meaning and effect on the listener.

These stories are multi-level in the way they work – they activate both the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind. This makes them very powerful as they engage the linear, logical sequence of the conscious and emotive symbolic interpretations of the unconscious

Talking about something without mentioning the topic 
Many proverbs are metaphors as are things we say as accepted parts of every day speech. They are often a way of disguising the truth in a more pleasant way.

“There’s plenty more fish in the sea”. Just think about the multitude of meanings that can have and most of them will have a negative spin.

“I feel as sick as a dog”. Yes: the vision of a dog, or human, being sick is not nice.

“Many hands make light work”. Means get off your fat backside and help you idle ‘person’.

Sometimes people will make comparisons with another situation to emphasise their point. “It’s like” or It’s as if” is put in front of a metaphor.

“My headache is so bad it’s like someone is pounding my head with a hammer”.

“When my boss talks about me to others in the room it’s as if I’m invisible”.

Metaphors are doors to deeper understanding – of the self and others. The methods developed in this course takes the casual metaphors that occur in our speech and uses them to reveal the hidden depths of our thought processes. It brings unconscious thoughts into our awareness; here they can be shared, enjoyed and understood.

When you’re using a metaphor in conversation it can bypass the other person’s conscious defensive filter mechanisms systems and resistances. Let’s look again at;

“My headache is so bad it’s like someone is pounding my head with a hammer”.

This not a thought most people would consciously conjure up. I would like to bet most of you either had an image of someone hitting a head with a hammer or remembered a time when you had a severe headache. If so; the sentence had the desired effect and bypassed your defences and made you think of something you would not normally do!

By using a powerful everyday metaphor it allows, (possibly new), concepts or ideas to easily ‘sneak’ into the unconscious mind and override previously held beliefs. From this we can see that metaphors can be very influential in helping people change or move on in life or in a work place situation.

Course Content

• Exploring metaphors
• When to use a metaphor and when it is not ethical to do so
• How to deliver a metaphor
• How to construct powerfully effective metaphors
• Building parallel realities
• Using anchors
• More advanced techniques
• Other methods

Outcomes

• Be able to effectively read behind everyday metaphors used by those around you.
• Understand the value of metaphor for change
• Be able to construct and deliver powerful metaphors using different modalities
• Be able to anchor those changes

Breaks at suitable times

Maximum number of delegates: 15 

Venue: – Dartford 

Dates:  May 23-24;   September 26-27