Life Changing Metaphor!

Now, let's look at certain words that carry even more meaning and emotional intensity: metaphors. In order to understand metaphors, we must first understand symbols. What creates more immediate impact: the word "Christian" or the image of a cross? If you're like many people, the cross has more power to produce immediate positive emotions. It's literally nothing but two intersecting lines, but it has the power to communicate a standard and a way of life to millions of people.

 Regardless of religious beliefs, most would agree that Jesus Christ was a remarkable teacher whose message of love has endured not only because of what he said, but also the way in which he said it. He didn't go to the fishermen and tell them he wanted them to recruit Christians; they would have no reference for recruiting. So he told them he wanted them to become "fishers of men."

The minute he used that metaphor, they immediately understood what they needed to do. This metaphor instantly gave them an analogous step-by-step process for how to bring others into the faith. When he told his parables, he distilled complex ideas into simple images that transformed anyone who took their message to heart. In fact, not only was Jesus a master storyteller, but he used his whole life as a metaphor to illustrate the strength of God's love and the promise of redemption.

So try the following exercise:

1. What is life? Write down the metaphors you've already chosen: "Life is like. . ." what? Brainstorm everything you can think of, because you probably have more than one metaphor for life. When you're in an unresourceful state, you probably call it a battle or a war, and when you're in a good state, maybe you think of it as a gift. Write them all down. Then review your list and ask yourself, "If life is such and such, what does it mean to me?" If life is sacred, what does that mean? If life is a dream, what does that mean? If all the world is a stage, what does that mean? Each of your metaphors empower and limit. "All the world's a stage" may be great because it means you can go out there and

make a difference and be heard. But it also may mean you're someone who's always performing, instead of sharing your true feelings. So take a good look at the metaphors that you've made available to yourself. What are their advantages and disadvantages? What new metaphors might you like to apply to your life in order to feel more happy, free, and empowered?


2. Make a list of all the metaphors that you link to relationships or marriage. Are they empowering or disempowering? Remember, conscious awareness alone can transform your metaphors, because your brain starts to say, "That doesn't work—that's ridiculous.'" And you can adopt a new metaphor easily. The beauty of this technology is that it's so simple.


3. Pick another area of your life that impacts you most—whether it's your business, your parents, your children, your ability to learn—and discover your metaphors for this area. Write these metaphors down and study their impact. Write down, "Learning is like playing." If studying is like "pulling teeth," you
can imagine the pain you're giving yourself! This might be a good metaphor to change, and change now/ Once again, notice the positive and negative consequences of each of your metaphors. Exploring them can create new choices for your life.


4. Create new, more empowering metaphors for each of these areas. Decide that from now on you're going to think of life as four or five new things to start with, at least. Life is not a war. Life is not a test. Life is a game, life is a dance, life is sacred, life is a gift, life is a picnic— whatever creates the most positive emotional intensity for you.


5. Finally, decide that you are going to live with these new, empowering metaphors for the next thirty days.