Metaphors and Butterflies Lecture Notes

Metaphors and Butterflies Seminar Notes The outcome of the training is unconscious competence in the creation of metaphor. The target of a metaphor is the unconscious processing mechanism. The counterpoint of the metaphor is the aspect that you wish the unconscious processing mechanism to accept as itself. Metaphors are an important device for setting up perceptual filters. A well-constructed metaphor will have an effect on us as well as to the intended recipient. When people describe their own experience, they use metaphors. It is important to set up a filter to keep any unwanted stuff from being transferred to you from the client.

Metaphor Construction There are three basic metaphor types, each of which has a different level of subtlety: 1) Quotes This form is the least subtle, and uses direct or indirect quotes. Process: 1) Determine the statement that you wish to make. 2) Select the level of explicitness and the appropriate context. 3) Deliver the metaphor and say the statement and act it out. 4) Deny everything or step aside and comment on the statement. IT'S VITAL TO HAVE RAPPORT BEFORE YOU DO THIS.

2) Naturalistic These are short metaphors of sixty to ninety seconds each, and should be delivered twelve times in a couple of hours, or once a day for two weeks. When delivering a group of naturalistic metaphors it is important to use an identical non-verbal behaviour. This ensures that the unconscious will group the metaphors together and classify the set, creating a file. PRESENT STATE --- VERB ----> DESIRED STATE E.G. When JG received a cut during a squash game, he asked his family to repeatedly come up and give him a sentence containing the verb "close" or "seal." In short order the wound was healed. The verb used should express the transition. 3) Isomorphic In an isomorphic metaphor, the relationships (verbs) are preserved while changing the characters (nouns) This allows the unconscious mind to decode the metaphor.

JG told a metaphor about the gardener who was hired to look after a garden. In the garden were two rosebushes which had become intertwined at the roots, and were competing for nutrients and the sunshine and the rain. Gardener A single mother Rosebush 1 Daughter 1 Rosebush 2 Daughter 2 Kind Ludwig Father Beginning this metaphor with the characters and entities above paces the client's experience, and at this point a solution is offered. In this case, the gardener said that she would need to consult with other master gardeners (other single parents who had two children) in order to know what to do about these two particular rosebushes. The structure is thus: 1) Pace the current situation by substituting characters/nouns 2) Lead to a solution.

*** Confine yourself to 90 second metaphors *** * A basic rule is to add detail when introducing a new object, otherwise if you mention it later with additional detail it will clash with the internal representation of the client. (e.g. What colour was the balloon?)

Delivering the Metaphor State is important when delivery the metaphor - the deliverer must not be selfconscious. Before beginning the metaphor, calibrate the listener's behaviour to provide you with a baseline for any further changes. It is very important to continually calibrate the listener as you tell the metaphor to ensure that one's metaphor is being processed at the unconscious level.

Delivery Variables 1) Establish and Maintain Rapport through crossover mirroring using the client 's breathing cycle (Rapport is the ability to seize and hold the attention of another's unconscious mind) 2) Speak at one third the speed of your normal speech 3) Use predicates from all three representation systems 4) Act out the metaphor. This guarantees the stimulation of mirror neuro ns in the listener/watcher. We don't just tell stories, we act them out. 5) Incorporation: Use silence as a marker to recognise a response from the client, and acknowledge it ("That's right") If a particular event is distracting you, incorporate that into the metaphor. 6) Allow time after each sentence/segment to ensure the listener can process the metaphor at the unconscious level.

ISOMORPHISM - One-One/ Set-Set mapping e.g the bear whose cage was dismantled in a larger enclosure, yet who kept within the srcinal area of the confines... Bear Person

Cage Situation where choices lacking Only moving within the cage limiting behaviour By interrupting a metaphor it allows the unconscious to come up with solutions. If this approach is used, the therapist has the responsibility to check that the client has the additional choices. Physical Quote -

Regrouping If you need to regroup, have six 'filler' stories that you can recite while simultaneously thinking of what to do next. In the event that you need to change track, have twelve verbal metaphors (60-90 seconds each) and twelve non-verbal ways of changing the clients state, so you can begin again. You can also take the client out for a walk to re-establish rapport if necessary.

Feedback If you notice the story is too thin (the client's conscious mind is decoding the metaphor) you can add a totally unrelated image (such as a ten foot tall smoking carrot) or adding another layer to the metaphor. If you want to covertly find out how the metaphor is going, in the metaphor a character can ask "How did that work for you?" Spontaneously Occurring Signals are the most important communications from the unconscious mind.

Other Types of Metaphor Stealing Anchors If the client expresses certain indicators when presenting certain people or feelings, you can use those very same gestures yourself at certain points in your metaphor. Living Metaphor (Tasking) The executive who cut up his redwood executive door and gave a piece to each of the employees. No words were spoken. Where is a situation where I can use this living metaphor? A son who is living in the basement and who has filled it with his junk, which is causing his parents annoyance. Solutions: Remove the lightbulbs in the basement, so that the son has to struggle through the darkness unable to find anything Put their own junk in his car so that he can't get in it. Self-Metaphor

If there is a situation where an authority figure is the issue, you can present them with a situation where they have to essentially offer the information to them self. The example given was where the mother was represented as a CEO, and the daughter as the employee. The mother was asked what the Employee (daughter) should say to the CEO (mother) to resolve that particular issue.

Developing One's Skills In Metaphor An ongoing development strategy is to first establish rapport with your unconscious mind. Then clean up any personal history. An additional strategy is to learn to think visually only (not with Auditory Digital) To improve your coaching practice, use the personal editing format or a clean third position to coach yourself. Build an appreciation for the underlying neurology (physiology, biology, autonomic nervous system, biochemistry, eg) as this will be helpful in showing you what is going on. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!

Golden Nuggets A technique for silencing internal dialogue is to drop the tongue. The function of the conscious mind is to either allow a particular movement srcinating from the unconscious mind to continue, or to interrupt it. As a therapeutic technique, MHE would use the patient's dreaming arm and have them repeat the dream several times only having them change the characters. Since the verbs were unaffected, the effect was still the same. If you should happen to have a recurring dream fragment, you can establish an involuntary signal (if Visual it can be made brighter for a "Yes" and dimmer for a "No" if Auditory, it can be made louder or quieter...) to determine whether you should respond to something that your unconscious mind wishes you to. If you make a commitment to do something, you must do it! If you are not happy with the action that your unconscious requests, you can determine the intention and then reframe. If you find that you have an involuntary sensation, you can turn it into a signal system by having the unconscious mind temporarilty double the intensity for a "Yes" and/or to temporarily remove the sensation for a "No." The naturalistic metaphors can also be used in brainstorming sessions as they use the same circuitry to solve a particular issue.