In the following, the client in the two 'Jewel of Choice' transcripts gives her impressions of what happened during the Symbolic Modelling process facilitated by Penny Tompkins and James Lawley, and what has happened in the six months since.

The first session facilitated the client - using her metaphors and symbols - to self-model her desired outcome and the effects of achieving that outcome.

The second session facilitated the client to self-model the way her Metaphor Landscape - the embodied system of metaphors and symbols - was organised and the process by which it could evolve.

The wonderful thing is that these changes seem to have happened in spite of myself and did not appear to be due to any conscious effort on my part. That may sound at first as if I am abdicating all choice to my unconscious, but I see it more as a working partnership.

When Penny and James asked the group if anyone would like to volunteer for a live demonstration, I casually looked about the room to see who it would be. What happened was not expected, I felt the flick of my pen as my hand jerked away from my body. I hoped that nobody saw, but as if in some auctioneer's hall, my bid was not to go unnoticed.

I hadn't the faintest idea what 'issue' was to be aired, but had to trust that something in me had presented itself as ripe and ready to be resolved. I was fortunate as it turned out, that I did already have a starting point, with the drawing I had made on a silent retreat I had been on a couple of weeks before. This Ideal Being was certainly making her presence felt and with her help, I was about to be introduced to my Symbolic World. (See drawing A.)

A. Ideal Being - from a meditation, showing qualities of Truth (sword), Receptivity (open hand), Mothering and Open Heartedness (baby at breast), Beauty (sitting on Lotus), Gentleness (deer), Clear-sightedness (hawk), Detachment / Cutting away the extraneous (knife)

Session One 

The session started with a choice, as in where would I like to sit and where would I like to place Penny and James. This, together with what I felt was the very supportive energy of the group, gave me a feeling of safety and the necessary level of control over the direction the session might take. As it happened my conscious self very quickly gave the driving wheel over to my unconscious, which seemed to be much more familiar with the terrain.

Every question asked seemed to be like headlights on my vehicle, that illuminated different aspects around me in such a way that there was no concern that my 'imagination' would not be up to the journey. What was surprising to me was how quickly I became fully immersed in what was being revealed. What I mean by that is how all of me was present, so that instead of simply observing, I was having real emotional and physical responses as we went along.

It was also very clear how events in my life had been translated into their symbolic counterparts and now had a life of their own in this world. This was particularly apparent to me in what has been highlighted as C28 in the transcript. The 'scared' of losing it (the jewel given to me by my mother) was a very real fear as it took me back to when, soon after my mother's death, burglars got into my bedroom and stole every piece of jewellery my mother had ever given me.

The session however gave me back a priceless gift. I really felt that in some way my mother was returned to me and that the attributes assigned to her as my Ideal Being, were somehow now being mirrored in me. (See drawing B.)

I can see now how ready I was to complete a whole picture from the many fragments I had worked on in therapy for a number of years.

Thankfully this previous work had allowed me a certain sense of familiarity with some of the figures in my landscape. I found this particularly useful when I met again the Yoda-like character who represented my gut instincts, as the great level of trust needed to follow him into the cave had to have been built up over time. I recognised him from a therapy session I had years ago, where he was a spindly, wizened up little creature with yellow teeth and bad breath.

I had wandered into a cave full of skeletons and found that I couldn't get out the way I had come in. I was aware then of something in my peripheral vision skipping around me.

C. The scene as it was, where I was stuck in the mud of the past, even though I was aware that the present and the future are glorious. The nine year old me had to be released from a state where she had simply given up.

When my therapist asked if I could face it, I turned and saw this grotesque imp hissing at me. When I finally found a passage out of the cave the imp tried to impair my route, until I yanked his foot and found freedom.

It was in a session that followed a few weeks later that I found out who this character was. In a Gestalt exercise, I enacted being in dialogue with this creature and we found ourselves sitting with our backs to each other.

Session Two

I was asked if I wanted to carry on the next day and again something in me was very excited about the prospect. What happened in the 50 minutes that followed was extraordinary;

Through the use of Symbolic Modelling, my session with Penny and James re-established my relationship with my imp, which had grown older and wiser as he appeared now as Yoda. I also saw that I held the choice of releasing the now far less powerful figure of the abuser with the 'feeling sorry for' domino.

I had my protective pink bubble again together with my gut instinct which would allow me to choose who or what I can trust.