metaphores

[g.laiya]

so at my last coaching session, i was requested to, for “homework”, choose 3 metaphores from which i can create a roadmap to fullfillment of my goals.

i was really stumped. although i often find myself comparing my life to a rollercoaster, and sometimes feel it is like a made-for-tv movie, i want to find something more inspirational that still resonates.

i searched the internet, and found a couple that seem to fit ( like a garden,like a painting ), though i’m still fleshing them out.

i also found these, that though they are not what i was searching for, i liked enough to want to save and share:

Happiness is a River Bank

Happiness is a river bank
Far from the maddening crowd
A place to sit cross-legged, gazing far
Perchance to think out loud

Sailboats harness wind’s mighty power
Seagulls’ aerial ballet overhead
Water sparkling blue, light’s dainty dance
Thoughts of poems still unread

To reach the other shore it seems
No more than a step or two
Yet in truth a barrier exists
This flowing ‘Creeksea’ river blue

Happiness is a river bank
Temptation – the opposite shore
When you find that place called happiness
What’s not to want but more

Pauline Oliver

A Metaphor Poem on Happiness

Happiness is a beacon
Shining in the distance
It flashes and then is gone
Enticing…yet elusive
And earnestly you wait
To glimpse its light once more
In hope and anticipation
You will safely reach that shore

Happiness is a seed
You can hold it in your hand
And plant it in the earth
To nurture, nourish…tend
Then you need not wait in earnest
For it is within your care
Reap the harvest as you choose
As little..or as much as you dare

Happiness is a thought
You hold it in your mind
Your imagination gives it substance
A dance, a song, a sculpture
Beauty intensified by motion
Or a static panorama
A landscape of desire
A play, a film…a drama

Pauline Oliver

do any of you have metaphores you find useful or inspirational, or just want to share?

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[Patte Rosebank]

I like to think of ADHD as a gift, because it can enrich your life, or taint it, depending on what you do with it.  It has a double-meaning, just like the word “gift”.

“Gift” (in English)  is “a present, a treat, a talent, or something special”.  This is what ADHD is when you get a diagnosis, and the proper treatment & skills to make the most of its strengths, while minimizing its weaknesses.  It’s that “something special”, that other way of looking at life, that makes us innovators and creative problem-solvers.

 

“Gift” (in German) is “poison”.  This is what undiagnosed, untreated ADHD is, because it will make it so much harder for you to succeed, prosper, and enjoy your life.  In short, it will poison your life, if you let it.

This double-meaning is quite an incentive for getting that diagnosis & treatment!

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[g.laiya]

that is a very good ad/hd metaphore!
i took 1 semester of german as an undergrad student – many moons ago! but i didn’t remember the meaning of “gift”. makes me wonder what the root of the english word gift is…and are they connected in any way at their roots?hmmmm….

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[Patte Rosebank]

It appears that the link may be the Greek word “dosis” (which means “a portion prescribed”), from which we get our word “dose” (as in, “dose of medicine”).

“Potion” & “poison” come from the same Latin root (“potionem“, meaning “a drink” or “a poisonous drink”).

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From the Online Etymology Dictionary:

gift (n.) mid-13c. (c.1100 in surnames), from a Scandinavian source, cf. O.N. gift, gipt “gift, good luck,” from P.Gmc. *giftiz (cf. O.S. gift, O.Fris. jefte, M.Du. ghifte “gift,” Ger. Mitgift “dowry”), from PIE root *ghabh– “to give or receive” (see habit).

O.E. cognate gift meant “bride-price, marriage gift (by the groom), dowry” (O.E. noun for “giving, gift” was related giefu). Sense of “natural talent” is c.1300, perhaps from earlier sense of “inspiration” (late 12c.). As a verb from 16c., especially in gifted. As a verb, giftwrap (also gift-wrap) attested by 1936.

poison (n.) c.1200, “a deadly potion or substance,” also figuratively, from O.Fr. puison (12c.) “a drink,” later “a potion, poisonous drink” (14c.), from L. potionem (nom. potio) “a drink,” also “poisonous drink,” from potare “to drink”.  Slang sense of “alcoholic drink” first attested 1805, American English.

In many Germanic languages, “poison” is euphemistically named by a word equivalent to English gift (cf. O.H.G. gift, Danish and Swedish gift; Du. gift, vergift). This choice might have been aided by Gk. dosis “a portion prescribed,” lit. “a giving,” used by Galen and other Greek physicians to mean an amount of medicine.

O.N. = Old Norse

P.Gmc = Proto-Germanic

O.S. = Old Saxon

O.Fris = Old Frisian

M.Du = Middle Dutch

PIE = Proto-Indo-European

O.E. = Old English

O.H.G. = Old High German

Du = Dutch

Gk = Greek

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