Alternatives:
"If we do assisted living now, the nursing home is next."

or construct guiding metaphor (focus on the Source domain of one of the chosen type and note/elaborate on ideas);

Case B: Two reference points;
Elements: Wife - Agent (self), Affected Parties (house), Force/Motion (self-propelled as to work and devotion she put into house; Location (place or mental space where house is); Possessions (money, effort, devotion); obstacles (work is too hard, whatever kept house from being finished, whatever keeps house from being more valuable now).
Elements: Husband (same as Wife, except Obstacle of her no longer being passionate about house, of wanting to get money out).
Incongruity: Wife - "lost" interest, something disappeared as if without some thought process; wants something to "show", metaphorically understood as a demonstration, investment, etc..
Incongruity Husband - "loves" house, as if it were a being and he keeps faithful, loyal, more important than most other things in life, more important because it is so special, honorable, earth-friendly, going through life together wherever it leads.
Gaps Wife - when you decide to stop devoting yourself to something why do you have to have something to show? Idea of having made a mistake in the first place?
Questions Wife - Where do you think your great interest in this house went? What does it mean if you invest heavily and end up with little or nothing?
Questions Husband - Are there several different things that make you want this house and to continue owning and working on it? Would you ever sell it voluntarily? Can you love it as much without a wife?

One useful way to expand your capacity with metaphor is to organize and become more familiar with useful categories of Source Domains.

If Guiding Metaphor: Put up examples from each category of metaphor (Common Activities & Objects, Cultural, etc.) and talk about how they may be used; having chosen the Source for a guiding metaphor, remind group about Target and Source.

Offer a case example (such as one on level -1), and ask
same question; see what ideas people have about how to use metaphor (e.g., people may see similarities between Target and one of the metaphor examples; people may see potential in a metaphor for guidance, etc.)

Should participants role play? This would require at least 3 in a group. Might work to have all 3 understand the case, then role play a simple discussion (for clarity of the case). Then group could discuss strategy for metaphor, and then one or more participants role play the mediator with this strategy.

[brief version of following:]
For example, a divorcing couple in mediation is discussing spousal support. They agree that Wife will live in their marital home and be a stay-at-home mom until both kids are full-time at school. And they agree that Husband should pay maintenance of a certain amount per month, but Husband says it should be for five years and Wife says seven. The mediator asks each to tell the most important thing about the length of time they each favor. Wife says seven years keeps the plan on track for the mother role and job future they both agree is best - she will have two years after their youngest child will be in full-day school, at which point she will have had two years to upgrade her skills and get a job. Husband says he is just marking time and won't have the money to buy a home until maintenance is over, and five years is plenty long enough to wait.

The mediator is listening carefully for metaphor. He hears Wife express the importance of keeping an agreed plan on track and Husband's concern for just marking time. For clarification he asks Wife, "So, you have it mapped out as to when things will be happening so that you get to where you need to go?" Wife responds that, yes, she does best when she has a clear itinerary.

The mediator ask Husband, "While you're paying the maintenance are you kept from stepping out into the life that would really suit you?" He responds that, no, he can step out and do things, but he can't really swing into gear the way he ought to. To get an even better sense of his experience I tried "climb aboard", "get up to speed", "in a good grove", but he finally said, "My job's working out fine, so is my social life, but until I have a more or less permanent home, with space for the kids, and start doing the things that make me feel whole, like getting a garden growing, I won't really have my life going."

Furthermore, if the mediator carefully highlights these metaphors or brings them out into the open, this enhances communications among disputants.

Continuing the example, for Husband I simply reiterated how a certain kind of place can make such a difference, a place in which he could then do the things of such importance to him. I understood his point of view better now, and Wife did too. Wife's words about the importance of mapping ahead of time and keeping track of when things will happen at least clarified how she thinks about this subject. Of course we did not yet have resolution of their differences. Nevertheless important work had been done in listening and communicating.

Finally, mediators can help bring out aspects of a metaphor that may not at first be attended to. Since such aspects often contain new options, the mediator's skill with metaphor will introduce additional ways to resolve conflict.

Continuing the example, with Wife's needs for spousal support now rendered metaphorically in terms of a well-planned trip, we can now begin to explore her needs using the logic of trip planning, maps, itineraries and - as yet unmentioned aspects of the same metaphor - changes in modes of transport, alternate routes to the same destination, picking places to stay, side trips and the like. Husband's metaphoric understanding of a home as a base of operations for certain sanctified pursuits…

Note how the uses identified by the group may
resemble or relate to uncovering operating metaphor.

When you discover metaphor underlying a position - a person's insistence on educational decision-making metaphorically understood as playing the game fairly, another's proposal for home buyout as part of a dance involving many other property division steps, that really narcissistic mother's arbitrary holiday plan as the most appropriate selection of wines… - not only do you have a fresh communications channel open, but also a defined structure with which to try to work further along towards resolution.

Recall that metaphor, compared to analogy where a comparison or likening is explicit, is usually imbedded in discourse or description that may sound literal but is actually metaphoric. This is particularly the case with Primary Conceptual Metaphor where bodily movement and experience is the Source Domain (e.g., this conversation is getting nowhere; what she said opened up new vistas, etc.).

Do you find a familiar pattern of relationships among elements?

Do you find Time accounted for in a distinctive way?

Recall that metaphor, compared to analogy where a comparison or likening is explicit, is usually imbedded in discourse or description that may sound literal but is actually metaphoric. This can be the case with Narrative or "higher level" metaphor where a sequence of events of a certain type, or a story line, corresponds to a well-known metaphor or allegory (e.g., when his son got home late he interrogated him about everthing that happened (parental discipline is criminal investigation); she was an expert in detecting the slightest source of trouble (identifying fault is the Princess and the Pea)).

Sequences may be different from different Points of View...

Individual acts can be taken together to form a sequence. Missing parts of the sequence are searched for and included (also see How Gaps Filled In). Such a sequence may not form a narrative, but may become one by finding and adding layers of strategy or direction.

What is a narrative? As mentioned, we may regard an account of series of events (in the Performing layer) to be a narrative once we understand some of the other layers (Aims/Direction; Strategies/Emerging Qualities). The multiple levels working together give a "story quality" to the account. Strategies may be revealed by examples in the Performing layer. Aim/Direction may have to be inferred.

In one sense the narrative isn't a metaphor because it is meant as literal (even though it may perhaps contain simple metaphoric terms that summarize or enliven the account). In another sense the whole narrative account can be meant as the Source Domain of a metaphor mapped to a problem/dispute Target Domain.

Do you find a familiar pattern of relationships among elements?

Do you find Time accounted for in a distinctive way?

Recall that metaphor, compared to analogy where a comparison or likening is explicit, is usually imbedded in discourse or description that may sound literal but is actually metaphoric. This can be the case with Narrative or "higher level" metaphor where a sequence of events of a certain type, or a story line, corresponds to a well-known metaphor or allegory (e.g., when his son got home late he interrogated him about everthing that happened (parental discipline is criminal investigation); she was an expert in detecting the slightest source of trouble (identifying fault is the Princess and the Pea)).

Sequences may be different from different Points of View...

Individual acts can be taken together to form a sequence. Missing parts of the sequence are searched for and included (also see How Gaps Filled In). Such a sequence may not form a narrative, but may become one by finding and adding layers of strategy or direction.

What is a narrative? As mentioned, we may regard an account of series of events (in the Performing layer) to be a narrative once we understand some of the other layers (Aims/Direction; Strategies/Emerging Qualities). The multiple levels working together give a "story quality" to the account. Strategies may be revealed by examples in the Performing layer. Aim/Direction may have to be inferred.

In one sense the narrative isn't a metaphor because it is meant as literal (even though it may perhaps contain simple metaphoric terms that summarize or enliven the account). In another sense the whole narrative account can be meant as the Source Domain of a metaphor mapped to a problem/dispute Target Domain.