The best metaphors make you laugh and think in new ways. Here’s one that’s great to use with a live audience. It’s one of my favorites. You can go over the top with it – if that’s your style.
… Imagine yourself locked in a prison cell. You have a key that will allow you to escape. But the prison cell is cozy and safe. Instead of leaving your prison you study the history of keys, write a treatise or two on imprisonment. Your are invited to deliver lectures at important conferences, and you receive numerous awards. But the cell is safe and familiar.
Perhaps you are a psychologist, and you do research on why people who have keys don’t use them, can’t find them, lose them, are afraid of them.
Perhaps you are devotional by nature. You make an altar for your key. Surround it with flowers and incense, pray to it, meditate in its awesome presence.
Perhaps you are indignant about injustice in the world. You lobby for people imprisoned in various kinds of cells. It helps you take your mind off your own situation.
Some people test their key to see if it really opens the door. It does! Wonderful! Amazing!
Others may open the door to peep out. It’s so beautiful outside. So much space!
There are other who open the door wide and admire the view but never step out of their cell.
There are a few who open the door, walk outside, and throw away the key.
What would it take for you to know that you have the key, that it’s okay to use it, to open the door, and then throw away that key forever?