Change Your Metaphor, Change Your Life

Nature, neuroscience, and how to use metaphor to change your brain, life, and the world as you see it

Change your life? A tall order to be sure. Did I just become the writer who uses hyperbole as a baitless hook to lure a reader in?

Maybe. Or perhaps the conscious use of metaphor really can change one’s life. If we can accept that metaphor shapes our lives, then surely metaphor can change us.

This is more than opinion. We’ll see that neuroscience is proving how powerful this is.

We all use metaphor

Metaphor is a way of using one thing to mean another. It pervades our lives in often unconscious ways. In fact, researchers at the University of Arizona have shown that on average people use a metaphor every twenty words.

The dominant metaphor alive in the western world right now uses technology. We say we “don’t have the bandwidth” when we don’t have time. When we need to find time, we need to “free up some capacity.” When we have a revelation, we say we had a major “download.”

It works the other way too. Because contemporary technology is so complex, we use metaphor to simplify and understand it. We “stream” content, “mine” data, and store information in the “cloud.”

Perhaps the newest flavor of the month is the “metaverse” as a way of getting our heads around invisible or intangible virtual worlds. Metaverse is a term that means everything and nothing at all, yet we accept it because it’s the best we have right now.

Technology has become so ubiquitous in how we see and understand life and the world that we often use this language so unconsciously.

This isn’t a new phenomenon

Humans have long relied on metaphor as a way of explaining ideas. Many religious and spiritual traditions use mountains, rivers, deserts, and caves to inspire the minds and hearts of followers and communicate complex stories through striking and familiar landscapes.

English astronomer Fred Hoyle originally coined the term “Big Bang” as a way of mocking and rejecting what he saw as a simplification and absurd rendering of the origins of the universe.

The universe’s origins were far more complex than a singular event. Ironically, his term became the ubiquitous shorthand for explaining what most people can’t get their heads around. It works as a metaphor because of its visual simplicity.

Songwriters love metaphors. Soul music out of the United States, partly influenced by its own Christian roots, gave us songs like River Deep Mountain High and Many Rivers to Cross as a way of expressing how far one would go for love.

Advertisers use it too. In a one-page ad or a 30-second television spot, advertisers need to use metaphor to deliver complex information to diverse audiences.

Famous ads include Red Bull gives you wings, and Chevrolet, the heartbeat of America. Each says a whole lot more than an information script could ever deliver. It provides a strong visual image that connects both intellectually and emotionally.

Neuroscience and how metaphor works

Neuroscience is concerned with understanding how the body’s nervous system works. It is about more than the brain or its parts. It’s about neural circuitry.

I’m no expert. My experience and interests in this field are primarily focused on its application in education, coaching, and how people can think optimally.

Neuroscience is an incredibly diverse and complex field, and any attempt to simplify complexity risks reducing the full extent of the field. Nonetheless, and perhaps precisely for this reason, I will march right into this task because indeed we do this all the time.

Metaphor is little more than an attempt to simplify complex information through an often-visual representation using something familiar.

Metaphors act as neural maps that distill complexity into a strong singular image. By speaking and thinking using metaphor, we don’t need to explain all the component parts of the thought. The image itself delivers the meaning.

Interestingly, numerous fMRI studies have shown that the left brain processes language while the right brain plays a crucial role in comprehending metaphor.

While the research is early and sometimes contentious, it does indicate that metaphor can be a powerful synergistic tool for enhancing cross-brain connections.

When metaphor doesn’t serve us

Not all metaphors are equal. Some are widely adopted while others are more novel or obscure.

Some are simple, like “let’s shine a spotlight on this” as a way of drawing attention to something. Its helpful simplicity negates the need to unpack it.

Other times it’s clumsy. A meditation teacher said in a class on self-acceptance, “You cannot change your ball of clay, but you can learn to mold it.” The metaphor is confusing because you are both the clay and the sculptor.

To be the sculptor of your own life sounds empowering, but to view yourself or life as clay is more limiting. Fleshing out this metaphor or finding a new way to express it would be helpful.

And because metaphors are often perpetuated through media and social discourse, it doesn’t mean we have always done the work of exploring its component parts.

We may be unconsciously using metaphors without fully grasping or integrating their full implications or potential, neurologically or otherwise.

How to work with metaphor in your life

Only recently, in a coaching session, a client explained she felt “lost.” Now in a literal sense, she knew exactly where she was — sitting directly next to me. Amy was using “lost” to describe feeling directionless.

I invited her to unpack what “lost” meant to her. We explored destination, navigation, and knowing where you are. We even uncovered what “unlosting” might mean.

These explorations are less about getting the answer right and more about evoking insight. Diving deep into metaphors can help reclaim the complexity disguised by the simplicity of the visual image or ubiquitous expressions like “being lost.”

Then there’s the possibility of switching metaphors. We may ask, What other images could describe where you’re at and how you’d like to feel in relation to your goal?

Finding a metaphor to use

Ultimately, the most powerful metaphor in working with others is the one that they come up with. Listen to any conversation, and you’ll soon be able to spot a metaphor in play.

Another way to approach working with someone is to ask, can you think of an image that could explain this situation? Pause and they will soon share something.

I almost never ask someone if they have a metaphor because oddly that seems to engage the rational brain. But ask for an image and something will inevitably come to mind.

When I asked one client if he could think of an empowering image to represent his goal, actions, and path forwards, he visualized a ski slope.

I am not a skier and would never have thought of this myself. It would have also carried no personal power for me. But this is the art of coaching — it’s not about me. Always start with images that are meaningful for the client.

Nature as a living metaphor

It isn’t so much about changing metaphors as it is about letting the metaphor change you.

Notwithstanding the need to follow a client’s metaphor or image, there is a fundamental power in using metaphors that are grounded in nature and personal experience. This is why I find nature-based coaching and learning to be particularly powerful.

Nature can be transformative beyond its metaphoric powers. Studies out of Europe and Japan have shown that nature can influence our moods and reduce experiences of anxiety.

My own journey as an educator and coach has been interwoven with nature. I started out with Outward Bound in my early twenties where the educational philosophy was to let the mountains speak for themselves.

The key is that the mountain (or forest or river or whatever landscape) continues to speak long after the experience. We carry these deep memories we can tap into and reflect upon as life moves forward.

The mountain may symbolize one thing at sixteen years old, and then take on new meaning at forty-five after having climbed or failed to climb several metaphoric mountains in life.

When a metaphor is grounded in life experience it carries tremendous power that continues to grow in meaning and purpose as we move through life’s various seasons and landscapes.

In these cases, it isn’t so much about changing metaphors as it is about letting the metaphor change you.

Thank you for following me and reading my work. I’d love to hear your own stories and experiences. If you’re new to Medium, signing up is a great way to support fellow writers doing what they love. Plus, you’ll get great content daily.