An ACTION metaphor

This metaphor can be used for a wide variety of issues to do with breaking out of restrictions or breaking down barriers. Everyone has seen a mock Western movie set so everyone should be able to relate to the core of the metaphor. The therapist can embellish it with detail to suit the particular client.

The metaphor is spoken slowly to the client after the client has been led into trance.

 

The Setting

You find yourself in a long silent street somewhere.....it's late afternoon...you feel the fierce sun beating down....the heat is oppressive.....You walk along and dust rises from the ground under your feet... the place smells musty, stale....you look around....on each side are buildings.........closed and silent, blank windows.....watching....banks, shops, stores, offices.....some have names above the doors, some have no identity.....there is no one around...the whole place feels deserted, abandoned....lost....ahead is a large solid building like a town hall ....some kind of official building, maybe...blocking your way...behind you the road stretches back to a featureless empty land....

A hot wind blows dust up the street....you can taste grit in your mouth....you turn to the left....then to the right....everywhere you are hemmed in by buildings...you can't go left.... you can't go right....you can't go ahead.... you stop and wonder how you got here....so far from where you wanted to be.... so different from what you hoped for....everything seems empty and barren....the buildings seem to be pressing in....there is no way out....

And then you notice something.... a little movement....something disturbed by the wind perhaps....on the front of one of those anonymous buildings....you see that little movement....you go across the street....step up to the front of building....and look closely. The movement is a little flap of something....like cloth....attached to the building....you grab hold of it and you pull....there is a ripping sound....and suddenly there is a big tear right in the front of the building and light is pouring through the rip.....you pull again and a big piece comes away in your hand.... you look closely and you can see that it is paper on one side and paint on the other.....paint the same colour as the building.... you look closely at the building again.....now that you see it close up you realise that it is fake.....a facade....you grab the edge of the rip in both hands and you pull again....another big chunk of paper comes off....you can see right through the building...there is nothing behind it..... you rip off more and more... and the more you rip away the easier it comes off.....you feel a surge of joy as you rip and tear at it.....you push at the window frame and it topples out of position and smashes down onto the ground with a great crash.... You can see right though the illusion now....there is nothing holding you back....

....its like a movie set....everything you thought was real is really an illusion......you step through the hole and there is nothing but a few struts holding the building in place....you kick at the nearest strut and the corner of the building sags....you kick out the second one and the whole rotten framework creaks and shudders....you kick away the last support and with a mighty whoosh the whole edifice collapses flat on the ground.....you feel a surge of power.....you laugh with delight...you feel like a child again....you look along the back of those solid seeming buildings and you realise that they are nothing but someone's imagination.....false fronts held up by nothing....and you realise that you are not stuck.....none of those things can keep you in now.... and that fills you with a relentless determination....you go along the whole of one side of the street and kick out all of the struts, one after the other.... whooping and yelling and laughing out loud....and one after the other all those false fronts come tumbling down....and then you get to the biggest one of all... the one that was stopping you going forward....so solid seeming... so permanent.... and yet it is paper thin....a few kicks and it is gone....smashed....destroyed for ever....you watch it stagger and crumple.... you can feel the crash through your feet....and you don't even have to do the other side....the force of the blast causes all the rest to crumble and fall....falling like dominoes.....until all that is left is a scatter of flattened sticks and paper.....being blown away....scraps and remnants fluttering out of sight....

And you can see your way ahead now.....nothing in the way....and with those illusions gone....you can feel a fresh breeze blowing....blowing away that dirt and dust.....you can smell the clean fresh countryside around... and out of a clear blue sky....refreshing rain....you lift up your face and feel the soft wet drops on your skin.... washing away the dust of the past .... you drink in the new water.... you are renewed....uplifted.... and what seemed like a dead end street is now an open field stretching all the way to the horizon....there are no limits....and you know....now.... that you can go all the way....any way you want now...

 

 

• Index to Metaphors