We use metaphors all the time. Not just to create pretty language, but in our thoughts and decision making as well. in How To Fight Advertising, I talked about an exercise I had tried that involved examining the stories we like to tell about ourselves. Recognizing those stories lets us realize when advertisers are using those stories to try and sell us something.
That is a specific example of how we use metaphors in our daily lives, but I think we use metaphors in virtually everything.
Metaphors for Life Goals
One of my primary goals is to own my own company. But when I think about owning my own company, I am not considering the process of actually performing the service, thinking about whether I will enjoy it, how much paperwork there will be, taxes, and all the other administrative stuff. I’m thinking semi-abstractly of a man in professional but laid back clothes smiling and working…
And that’s it. There aren’t a lot more details. What am I working on? Why do I exhude an air of excitement, happiness, and satisfaction? What is up with that pale blue abstract wall color?
The point is that we think in terms of metaphors. Stories for our lives that describe how we want to live. Of course, the reality of the situation is that there is a lot of time in any part of life where we aren’t filled to the brim with excitement.
Do you imagine falling in love as a couple outside laughing while the sun shines on them, the grass green, an antique stone wall running in the background while a stream gurgles cheerfully nearby?
Do you think of martial arts and sports in terms of flying through the air, or running really fast, perhaps using footwork or other methods to beat your opponents and succeed?
These are stories that I think of when I think of those things, but none of the stories much resembles my experience with martial arts or relationships. These are metaphors that I’m using to describe events and emotions.
Why We Like Metaphors
Metaphors are so much better than facts because they engage our whole brain. When we are involved in a story our sense of smell and taste and touch activate. Our heartbeat responds to excitement. It’s ever so much more fun than if we were to cycle through our supposition of a given job imagining the grueling minute details of showing up, logging on, checking email, responding to coworkers questions, resolving disputes, ad nauseum.
Thinking in metaphors is good because it gets us involved and excited. Without them we might never do anything. But they are dangerous also, because they can lead us to associate stories we like with decisions that we don’t like.
Fun With Storytelling
It can be a lot of fun, and a worthwhile exercise, to play around with your metaphors. When you think about your life goals, what kinds of stories to you engage? I like this because it’s just plain fun to sit down and imagine what your life will be like 5, 10, 15 years from now. Once you have several stories in mind, you can start to evaluate them in terms of how you can make that story as close to reality as possible.
A lot of our actions seem oriented toward achieving a story that we’ve committed ourselves to at some point. Sometimes we don’t realize that we don’t want that story anylonger. Sitting back and creating a bunch of new stories for your life gives you a chance to experiment and to realign your less conscious actions with a future that you still believe in.
-zot
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