Mailbox metaphor (some thoughts are like junk mail)

I use this with clients who are experiencing troubling thoughts. I find it helpful as a rapid analogy about value driven behavior and acceptance. In addition, the metaphor itself is easily  anchored , as most of us actually check a mailbox each day.  I enjoy sharing on this site, feel free to play with this , and offer  your feedback.

1) When you go home today, what do you expect to find in your mailbox?
Client answers: Bills, advertisements, junk mail, maybe a letter.

2) How do you sort through to decide which mail needs follow up and which is considered junk?
Client answers: I have to look at it, and decide what is important.

3) How do you know what is important?
Client: Well if I don’t pay my bills my electricity would get disconnected, and if I don't renew my license plates, I can't drive.

4) I see, so you sort things out according to what matters to you, your priorities are easy to identify because you value the stability of a comfortable home and the freedom of driving your own vehicle.       What do you do with the junk mail?
Client: I throw it away

5) When you throw it away, is that the end of it?
Client: no there's always more junk mail the next time I open the box.

6) Why don't you follow up on it? You could call and check on those offers or you could get mad and call the advertisers and demand that they stop delivering the junk?
Client: Yes, but that would just be a waste of time…I've learned those offers are things that I don't need, or they are scams. I once tried to stop the mail but other companies send more. There's always more junk mail the next day, it's not worth getting upset..

Summation: So your experience helps you sort out what is important, according to the things that matter to you. And you learn to live with the junk mail that shows up everyday. It's in the box, you notice it long enough to recognize it for what it is, and then you move onto what matters in your life. …… Maybe these thoughts are like the mail that shows up in your mailbox; you take action on the important things while you have to accept the fact that there will be some junk , and you simply allow it to show up.