Water Off A Duck's Back
Some things can touch the surface without entering the system.
The gold
Personal metaphors first.
The best metaphor is usually not the clever one we supply. It is the one already inside your own language.
If someone says, "I am stuck," "I keep hitting a wall," "I am carrying too much," or "my mind is buzzing," the mind may already be showing the shape of the experience.
Our job is to pause long enough to ask what it is like, notice what arrives, and stay inside that world long enough for something useful to happen.
Practice
Pause. Soften. What is it like?
A vague word becomes useful when it turns into experience, movement, and possibility.
- Confusion: there may be more than one thing creating interference.
- Conflict: there is definitely more than one thing creating interference.
- Stuck: ask about the stuckness. What is it like? What would it be like if that became unstuck?
Now imagine there is a pathway. You are moving along. Then, boom. Stuck. In some way, you are stuck here. Is that true?
Ask the deeper parts of the mind: what would it take to move through and beyond this stuckness?
Examples
Metaphor Library
The Wall Has A Door
A wall may be real, but it may not be the whole experience.
Busy Bee
Busy energy can move everywhere without moving toward what matters.
Through, Over, Around
A block is not always solved by pushing harder in one direction.
Old Road, New Road
The old road may be familiar without being yours anymore.
The Bridge
A bridge lets the mind move from here to there without pretending the gap is gone.
The River Finds A Way
A river does not fight the stone and does not disappear into it. It finds the next open path.
The Price Tag
Some choices feel different when the hidden price tag becomes available.
The Missing Piece
Sometimes the mind cannot move because one piece of the experience is missing.
Practice cards
Use the cards as living metaphors.
These cards are not only labels. Each one gives the mind a small world to enter, notice, and update.