Practice 8: Mix Your Metaphors

Think about it...

I suppose that it is appropriate at the start of a new year to think about Practice #8 from Imagination First: Mix your metaphors.When you think about it, we use metaphors a lot, perhaps as simplifiers...ways to shorten and simplify what we are thinking about. And, as organizers and relaters, ways to connect what we are thinking about to something else, to organize it in our minds. We do it so much that we do not even think about it. And, this ends up being a problem. While our brains (for the most part) are naturally wired for this way of thinking (although some people's brains are not, for example, the brains of people with autism are not wired to think in metaphors -- for more information, check out this resource: TAP), our way of thinking in metaphors can also get us into trouble.

To borrow an example from Liu and Noppe-Brandon on a topic close to my heart, when we think of a school as being an "education factory," certain truths come to light: it is organized, efficient, maybe noisy...and everyone acts as if they are in a factory. What happens when we instead think of a school  as a garden or an art studio? The entire design of the school and all of the behavior in the school changes. Johnson and Lakoff are quoted as saying "the way we have been brought up to perceive our world is not the only way and it is possible to see beyond the 'truths' of our culture..." (Metaphors We Live By). I think it pays to stop and think about the metaphors we use and whether they are limiting our possibilities or, worse, even damaging us or those around us by what we do and how we act on those metaphors.

For example, if you think of common metaphor "TIME IS MONEY," how does this influence how you spend your time? Your life? If you, instead, thought in terms of a different metaphor "TIME IS A GIFT," does this change how you would spend your time? Your life? Consider the simple movie: The Dash for a little deeper thought on this one.

The point, I think, of Practice #8 as it applies to imagination first, is to purposely shake up your metaphors, just to see what new and creative ideas you have. You might just experience vu ja de when you do. Mix your metaphors. Be more imaginative. Shake up your world and see the same old things in a brand new way. The benefits to you may not be only that are are more imaginative. Mixing up your metaphors might just change your life. Or, you might just make a positive impact on the lives of those around you. Mix it up in 2011..who knows, we might just change the world!