Mind your language - your metaphors are a key to your unconscious mind

I'll aim to keep this short and too the point as it's a rich area for discussion ( in my mind anyway) because it could touch on a number of topics, e.g. NLP, creativity, CBT, self-help practice or diagnostic tool.

The way we all process information and stimuli from the outside world affects the way we think and consequently the way we then respond, interact and communicate both with others and with ourselves, if you think about metacognition. The meaning of any communication we initiate goes through a process of deletion, distortion and generalisation before it emerges as a conversaation - we colour what we say according to our views.

I think of myself as a creative person, creative in many ways (not necessarily that talented!) - with songwriting, mathematics, puzzles, problem solving, art, etc, so as a songsmith I work with metaphors all the time - they are not just an expression in language, they reflect the way we think about things. They can be a very powerful way to capture or express an idea, e.g. in one my songs I wrote - "I'm just a barren reef in an empty sea". When I look down the boards here I see a lot of metaphors used - people write about being "at the bottom of a deep dark hole", "lost/trapped in a maze", "hitting rock bottom", "dangling from a thread",etc. I have a strong feeling that a useful strategy to help us move forward is to change the language we use in order to start changing our minds, so I would advocate using the most concrete language you can to express your thoughts and feelings - I think this will help to quantify, identify and simplify what we are feeling and thinking and perhaps help to put these into perspective. So as I said - mind your language, try not to use too many metaphors and think about what you are really trying to say.

So rather than to say I am in a maze one should say "I'm trapped in this illness and cannot find a way out"? Rather than explain exactly what a depression feels like which is a deep dark pit that I try to claw my way out of I should say "I'm in a black depression that I cannot see which direction I should go from here"?

I believe that people should say what they need to say in order to first express the way they feel, once that is done they should then look for other words to express themselves further and bring deeper and more confused thoughts to the surface. Usually once thoughts are expressed they are easier to understand, but for the depressed it is a longer process and not everyone is easily creative though most are creatively dramatic. It is ideal that a client be drawn from creatively dramatic to creatively expressive

It can be overwhelmingly difficult for someone in the depths of depression to actually be able to express themselves, that is where metaphors are useful and speak volumes when someone is not truly ready to speak at all

It is easy to tell people how they should think but it is another thing entirely for a depressed person to actually think that way when their mind is not clear, and a therapist can usually draw out their clients thinking as they help them to unravel the mess of thoughts their client has to a point where the client can express themselves simply and understand what they themselves are saying

This is a good conversational thread which is important, it could to help people decide what expresses their thoughts the most clearly. I know there are many metaphoric quotes that come to the top when I am unsure whether I can articulate clearly what I am feeling; but there are times when I have implicit ability to express crystally clear what I need to understand before I can move on to the next suject

This is good thought. I don't know that not using metaphors is a real good idea, but the logic is still good and sound. Why? Because our words do have power. What we say, the words we use do affect us.

I wrote a piece on that recently on my website The Will To Live entitled Positive thoughts instead of happy thoughts. Basically, it's just that how we say something or the words we use can shape our outlook about situations.

Metaphors are good in that they allow for our minds to speak from abstract feelings that aren't always easy to express; however I agree with you in that what we choose to say can direct how we analyze the situation.

Metaphors are good for discovering what's in your unconcious thoughts, and which give us great insight into oursleves. Dreams are a perfect example of this too.

But I understand what you mean about using words for clear and direct thoughts.
"I'm at the end of my rope!"
is quite different from
"I feel so alone again and I wonder how I can go on this way!"
or
"My best friend hurt my feelings and I think the friendship might be over!"

Thanks for a great post!