Metaphors for Life

By James Hardie CBT

What's Metaphors for Life about?

Metaphors for Life - an invitation to consider your own experience of relating to thoughts, feelings and actions from a different perspective. Encouraging psychological flexibility with content inspired by the principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

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LAST EPISODE

#14 Dropping anchor with Ru...

11.27.2018

Thanks to Russ Harris for his willingness to share this exercise, called "Dropping Anchor", in this guest post on the 'Metaphors for Life' podcast. In his most recent book, this exercise was described as "the single most useful and versatile ...

Metaphors for Life episodes:

11.27.2018 #14 Dropping anchor with Russ Harris Thanks to Russ Harris for his willingness to share this exercise, called "Dropping Anchor", in this guest post on the 'Metaphors for Life' podcast. In his most recent book, this exercise was described as "the single most useful and versatile ...
10.16.2018 #13 Illustrating your mind with Louise Gardner In this guest post from professional Illustrator, Louise Gardner AKA @ACTAuntie on Twitter, and "Your ACT Auntie" on Youtube, we learn about her drawing of a human mind as a 'Safety Observing Sponge'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLi8-Mi6eqA If you'd like to see more ...
08.29.2018 #12 Mental Traffic In episode #12 of the 'Metaphors for Life' podcast, we're reflecting on the idea that "thoughts in your mind are like vehicles on a road". To bring this to life I recorded this on location, near to where I live. ...
06.09.2018 #11 Bottling Emotions Opening up after having been shaken up can be painful and messy. If you did choose to lift the lid, for some reason, what's your mind telling you about what could happen? From my perspective, I can see that problems ...
04.25.2018 #10 Introducing Yourself Have you ever thought about the kind of relationship that you have with your own self? Relationships need work and attention, kindness, respect, compassion and tolerance, whether it’s with a partner, a child or a friend. Becoming frustrated, having unrealistic ...
03.26.2018 #9 Digging holes Your supposed to avoid and escape from uncomfortable feelings and circumstances, right? In my experience, this is not always possible. When you're trying to cope with a difficult situation it's worth checking in with your sense of how well a ...
01.31.2018 #8 Sailing boats with David Gillanders For this episode of 'Metaphors for Life', I met up with David Gillanders from Edinburgh University to talk about the use of metaphors in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and in particular his invention of the sailing boat metaphor. Whilst ...
12.01.2017 #7 Snow globe What is the purpose of a snow globe? If you were to make your self one, what would it contain? Something meaningful or important to you perhaps; a collection of figures or a landmark of sorts. Most so called 'snow ...
08.08.2017 #6 Steve Hayes on using metaphors in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) In this episode of 'Metaphors for Life', I had the opportunity to interview Professor Steve Hayes, and ask him about the use of metaphors in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Along with an explanation of how and why metaphors can ...
08.01.2017 #5 Metaphors for life It's often difficult to 'put into words' the experiences that we have in life. We resort to describing abstract or unfamiliar concepts in terms of things that are concrete or we think will be familiar to the listener. Analogies and ...
06.13.2017 #4 Measuring up "How long is a piece of string?" Whilst we may need to agree upon standard criteria in order to make and communicate measurements, in some cases it may not make sense to measure, compare or judge things at all. Considering ...
05.24.2017 #3 Coping tool box Imagine if you only had one tool or strategy to deal with problems that you came across in life. You might be tempted to use it for everything! It may be useful to experiment with other ways of approaching things, ...
04.24.2017 #2 Navigating life There is a a difference between having a goal, and knowing what your values are. Where you are just now and where you would like to be may be two quite different places. Expectations of an ideal target destination and ...
04.01.2017 #1 Reaching out When we reach out, we take a risk; it costs us something. There are obstacles that can get in the way when we engage with those things that are most important to us. In accepting this discomfort perhaps we have ...
04.01.2017 Going out on a limb When we reach out, we take a risk; it costs us something. There are obstacles that can get in the way when we engage with those things that are most important to us. In accepting this discomfort perhaps we have ...