In any library or book shop the books are divided into sections.The main division is between fiction and non-fiction, although really when you think about it, there’s no hard and fast difference between the two.

Because if it’s true that writers mostly write about what they know, then it follows that there’ll be a fair amount of subjective fact to be found in any fictional book. And non-fictional work, being open to individual interpretation is also often a matter of context, opinion and personal experience.

Even the most precise of scientific theories can only be classified as fact until such time as the next paradigm shift rears it’s revolutionary head.

This makes it easy for us to head towards our preferred reading matter and most people do have a preference for one or more type of book. Those of us who prefer to watch a movie are also usually drawn to some genres more than others, be it action or period drama, romance or thriller, fantasy or science fiction.

And you might think it’s just a matter of taste and there’s no real significance to the types of stories we gravitate towards. However research suggests there’s much more to it than that.

Continue reading “The protaganist” →

Ever since I was a little girl I’ve loved to read. The glorious escape of it. Escaping from a somewhat lonely childhood into the world of imagination, where anything is possible and everything can and does happen.

Finding answers to those questions that we don’t even know we’re asking, between the pages of a book, can be a dangerous pastime however.

If you’ve ever felt the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end when confronted with an uncomfortable truth about yourself, then you’ll be able to relate to the way I felt, when, half way through my training as a Cognitive Hypnotherapist, I was confronted with the enlightening yet disturbing possibility that several suicide attempts throughout my teenage years may have been partly the result of a long-forgotten illustration in a book of fairy tales by Hans Christian Anderson.

I shuddered at the thought that I may have ended my life because of a beautiful but sad drawing of a little girl holding her hand skyward towards an angelic looking older lady in a flowing white gown, who reached down to the child with a look of pure tenderness and love.

That, I believe, is the power of metaphor. I also believe we can use metaphor to change our life story. This site is all about how.

Tag: therapy

The protaganist

Why I believe in Metaphor Therapy