How To Raise Your Metaphor Q

June 9, 2008 by Mary Wynne-Wynter 

Metaphor transforms the strange into the familiar.

- Cynthia Ozick

The conceptual economy requires creative decision making, problem solving and communication skills infused with metaphor. Metaphor inspires, makes the abstract concrete, changes perspective, and adds spark and interest to professional service content. I’m sometimes asked “how do you find your metaphors?”. Its one of the easiest aspects of being a creativity autodidact; just stay present and aware, and have a notepad handy.

Some recent examples of mine:

I’m a rower, starting most of my days with peak experiences on the Charles River. Recently when sculling the interaction of my body, my boat, my oars and the water brought up the phrase “natural influence” which has now become an important new theme in my work. Its not coincidence that the root is flow into, or flow to.

I’ve always enjoyed science fiction and that grew into an interest in cosmology and metaphysics. A few years ago, when reading about a phenomenal discovery about very distant stars, I learned about their redshift. RedShift, associated with increasingly accelerated expansion, was such a strong metaphor for how I saw my business, that it became the name and brand.

I love all music and added a bunch of music videos, spanning four decades, to my Facebook Profile. Although its a diverse collection, I noticed commonalities which made me think of “gritty passion” and reminded me to let that quality come through in my personal and professional life.

The world is our metaphor, arising in consciousness each moment. Metaphor finds us; there’s no need to look for it. Facilitate it by doing what you love as often as you can. Sometimes a metaphor can seem a little odd and in that case its important to not discount the importance. Even when you don’t immediately see how its trying to tell you something, write it down, and save it, preferably in your creativity “box”.

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