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Shifting Into
High Gear
Cynthia Loy Darst,
MCC
Cynthia is a passionate
pioneer in the coaching world.
She lives in Los Angeles with
her coach husband, David
Darst. Together, they have
The Inspiration Point.
“I don’t get it!” my client exclaimed.
“Using metaphor is really hard for
me. It is just not the way my brain
is wired.”
“Really? You just used a couple of
metaphors right there,” I responded.
“What are you talking about?”
“’Really hard.’ That’s a metaphor.
While speaking in metaphor might
be challenging or difficult for you, I’m
guessing that you cannot show me the
place that using metaphor is ‘hard.’ And,
by the way, unless I’m mistaken, I don’t
think your brain actually has wires in it.”
Metaphors, analogies and similes are
so woven into our daily language that
we often don’t even notice when we use
them. They range from using one word in
a metaphorical way to coming up with an
entire scenario. For example, we might
say, “Monique has a sunny personality.”
Just that one word—sunny—gives us an
immediate impression of Monique.
ICF Core Competency No. 7, “Direct
Communication,” calls on us to
use metaphor and analogy in our
16 Coaching World
conversations with clients, and for good
reason. Figurative language facilitates
a productive—even transformative—
coaching conversation by provoking our
imagination, unlocking creativity and
simulating resourcefulness. Metaphors
create powerful images and invite
energetic and emotional awareness. They
allow us to find more than the logical,
linear way that the left side of our brain
has established as “the truth” and open
a “dream door” for new information to
enter into our thinking. Only with new
information entering into the mix, and into
our brain, can we look at a situation or
challenge in a fresh way.
Over the past 19 years, I have trained
more than 1,000 people in coac