As a mental health professional part of my mission is to help people think about their lives in fresh ways that spring them from traps that have mysteriously held them captive--sometimes for years. I would hope this blog can serve that mission as well. I realize that there is a plethora of information on the web related to mind and soul health--some of it good, some of it not-so-good. When I find really good stuff, I may post it here from time to time. Mainly, though, I believe that one of the unique things each of us bring to the world is our own perspective. It is a lens we cannot help but look through even when trying to be impartial. The lens I look through is clearly shaped--some would say bent and warped--by my half-century-plus of spinning around on this ball of dirt, peering out through my little blue eyeballs at the world and trying to make sense of life.
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The "two roads" that
life often presents
to us - a metaphor. |
My particular neural circuitry is wired in such a way that I seem best able to understand things in picture form. Show me, show me, show me! If you must douse me with words, give me some word-pictures to work with; analogies, parables, jokes, stories. This is how I am best able to make sense of things. I used to assume everyone thought like this. As it turns out, not so. I have been told by some that my ability to think this way is a gift. I guess it might be, because I didn't do anything special to develop this quirky way of processing. It has a downside for me: anything math related an absolute nightmare for me (yeah, even if you use oranges and trains). A confirmed math phobic, my brain whirls into a stupor as soon as numbers dance onto my mental screen. My phone, fortunately, has a calculator feature. The upside is that I think in metaphors--mental pictures using relatively simple concepts to help me understand more abstract ideas and concepts. I am beginning to realize that others find my little pictures helpful in describing and thinking about their own experiences. They are also learning to find and develop their own metaphors. Cool!
To my surprise, in the course of my professional training I learned that there are therapists who practice what is called metaphor therapy. And books have been written about the usefulness of metaphors in helping us think about our lives. What I would like to do through my blogs is to share with you some of the metaphors that have helped both myself and my clients think about life. Some are original with me and others are of unknown origin. You will most likely realize, if you don't know it already, that you probably already use metaphors to understand and describe your own world.
Copyright John D. Deyo, M.A., LMFT 2009
