There’s always more than one way of seeing something. And if we’re alert to metaphors in our language, it can be easier to spot how our thinking is being framed.

I’ll signal metaphor in the story that follows with asterisks to help make my point (* - notice that? make my point – ouch, that one’s a bit aggressive)

I sat in a meeting – a group of clever academic women writing a book, and now planning the last stretch (*) to get it ready for the publisher. The time was tight (*). We began with a grid (a literal grid, although the image seems to carry metaphorical suggestions of jail and fences and grim blocks). The first column was for Deadlines (*), dates for completing stages, so that we could see everything that we needed to get done. The women around the table seemed to slump a little; I could feel their tiredness.

After a while, I intervened with a suggestion. Could we re-label Deadlines (*) into something more positive? Searching, in the moment, for an alternative, I came up with: Champagne Moments. These would be celebrations of each completed step   on the way to (* - those journey metaphors sneak in everywhere) the big one(* - big ~important).

Enough with the asterisks at this point!

Well, we changed the heading on the grid. And Champagne Moments became very popular in the group. They made us smile instead of slump. They turned delightfully literal as people met up in cafés to celebrate intermediate successes with a glass of fizz. The phrase spread – PhD students facing the long lonely trek to completion using it to brighten their planning and process. And when the book was submitted, everyone knew what needed to be done next – uncork the champagne!

Have you got some Champagne Moments coming up? If not, add some anyway!

I’ve been rethinking some of the Catching the Whispers course ready for its next start on November 8. I already love the label Explorations for the weekly sessions/lessons/parts of the course. Now I’m trying to replace the term Tasks. The best I can do so far is Activities, which at least removes the burdensome idea inherent in Tasks. And I can see I’ll need other terms in addition – I have activities that are deep diving, investigations, sliding into the unknown, rest and let it come to you, and tiptoeing into the possible. It’s going to be a wonderful varied experience – why not join us?