The Use of Metaphor
Therapists who work with children say that a child's drawings reflect what is going on in a child's mind. Drawings are a safe and easy way for a child to express himself. Of course, there are ways of making therapy less threatening for adults too - and one of these (that of metaphor) I have used to great effect many a time. For more information on how metaphors help us understand ourselves, have a look at www.metaself.org/model/ and for metaphors which help with curing nightmares in children, have a look at www.jelder.com/metaphors/nitemare.html.
Many therapy sessions involve the pain of changing - of relinquishing defenses and finding out how to live without these. There is more to be gained from a simple life, without defenses, but it takes a lot of guts to make the switch. I often tell clients the following story, and it always seems to help them to understand their situation better. It seems to be a kind of universal story that people in very different situations can relate to:
"Once there was a troupe of monkeys living in the jungle. One of the monkeys did not have too many friends, and tended to be ignored when the other little monkeys played together. It was such a day, when the other monkeys were all having great fun that this particular monkey wandered into an area of the forest he had not previously explored. There he noticed something that did not look as if it fitted with the rest of the jungle.
"To start with, it was silver, and shone in the son. There were wings - but they were hard - and a tail. The eyes seemed overly large. It also had a door, through which the little monkey entered. There he found a space suit and, being a typical monkey, tried it on. He zipped it up, and danced around in it. He liked how it felt, and ran back to his troupe to show them. Immediately he was the center of attention. The other monkeys were intrigued with his space suit, and they wanted to include him in everything they did. He became quite the little leader, and the other little monkeys began asking him for advice on any number of topics.
"This went on for a long time, until one day the monkey happened to be drinking in the dam, which, for a change, was almost as clear as glass. Normally, as the dam was in a very windy area, there was little chance for one to catch one's reflection. On this particular day, our monkey hero started when he saw his reflection in the water. What he saw was not how he thought of himself. He was a monkey, not a space man! He now realized that it was time to remove his space suit and start being what he really was.
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