What does it mean to “seek the metaphor?” Here’s a quote from Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit that puts this hard-to-describe concept into words:
Creativity is more about taking the facts, fictions, and feelings we store away and finding new ways to connect them. What we’re talking about here is metaphor. Metaphor is the lifeblood of all art, if it is not art itself. Metaphor is our vocabulary for connecting what we are experiencing now with what we have experienced before. It’s not only how we express what we remember, it’s how we interpret it – for ourselves and others.”
― from The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
What metaphors might elevate your lived experience today and help you see your relationships, actions, and emotions with fresh perspective? What if, instead of saying that you’re feeling “okay,” today, you described that state of okay as a specific kind of weather? Would it be blue sky with just a cloud or two, maybe one that looks a bit like a four-leaf clover? Or, would it have just finished misting and now a rainbow is cresting across the sky?
When we use metaphor to name our experience, we help ourselves see what might otherwise be invisible. We give ourselves language to understand our experiences more deeply and to communicate more fully with others. In today’s episode of Creative Lift, Living the Artful Life: Seek the Metaphor, we’ll try out another exercise that invites you to use metaphor to gain perspective.
I hope you’ll listen in and give it a try. And if you do, don’t forget to share your story with me! You can find me on Instagram @naomikinsman or sign up for my mailing list below for access to even more Creative Lift resources.
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