I’m on a roll now, playing with metaphors like a kid in a candy store. Except “kid in a candy store” is such a cliched metaphor I can’t believe I just wrote it.
Today’s game is one you can play at home. What is your metaphor for life? Here are some examples:
Life’s a bitch.
Life’s a ball.
Life is what you make it.
Life is an adventure.
Life is an uphill struggle.
Life is a journey.
That’s mine, right at the end. I’m sure lots of other people think life is a journey but my journey will be very different to yours.
In the book Clean Language: Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds, by Wendy Sullivan and Judy Rees, it says: “The metaphors we use to describe our lives can have a profound effect on the life we actually experience.”
So what kind of life would you like to have? Come up with a metaphor that enables you to tell a good story. So if your metaphor is about life being a journey, ask some clean questions.
What kind of journey is that journey? You might say: “It is a journey on foot. I start on my own but meet lots of people on the way. I’m smiling and waving. I move freely and easily. The sun is shining and the terrain is even. People like to stop and talk to me.”
And whereabouts is that journey? “I’m not sure where exactly, except that it’s in front of me, and it’s unfolding. I have a map – an old parchment map, but I can’t quite see what’s on it at the moment.”
You can see how these simple, uncluttered questions allow you to explore your metaphor to your heart’s content. Once you’d fleshed out your picture of the journey, you could start on the map, and by the end of the conversation you might actually be able to see what was on it.
Using metaphor in this way is a rich and compelling invitation to gain insight and make changes in your life, by engaging your imagination and innate creativity.
If your metaphor for life is a journey, then you might as well find out where you’re going!
Leave a Reply