Creating clarity with metaphor
By Ruth Field
The power of metaphor and story is something we utilise a lot at The Heartbreak Hotel. A well chosen metaphor can distil complex ideas into something clear and impactful that can readily be brought to mind. It links values to committed actions by highlighting the sense of openness and acceptance necessary to move forward and all the vitality and growth that values-based living can create. One of our favourites is The Wrong Train, adapted from The Big Book of Metaphors, by Jill A. Stoddard & Niloofar Afari…
Imagine you are going on a journey and that the destination is somewhere really special that you’ve wanted to visit for a very long time. You are stood on a platform at the train station, waiting. Two trains pull in, and both are heading for your chosen destination. One of them is familiar and safe, it looks reliable and clean and it even has a dining carriage serving your favourite French cuisine with plush velvet seats; you can really see yourself traveling in this train. The other train is a bit shabby, some of the seats are worn and tired looking. There is a trolley on wheels stacked with snacks and refreshments, but it’s not a patch on the French dining car. You decide, of course, to take the fancier train. You wait and wait to board, but the train does not leave the station platform. Meanwhile, the shabbier looking train does leave the station and goes on its way to your destination. Still, you think, it will be well worth the wait, as surely the better train will leave the station soon. While you wait to board, another shabby train leaves the station platform, and then another and then another. What if the nicer looking train never leaves the station?
What if you’ve been waiting for the wrong train?
Some thoughts to ponder…
What does this metaphor mean for you?
How does waiting for the better looking train help you move forward?
If you don’t allow for any discomfort, what will that cost you?
You know where you want to go, but what are you prepared to forgo to get there?