14 inspiring metaphors for life

Some people see life as a struggle. Every encounter is a struggle, and if you do not win, they feel like they lost. Others see life as an adventure. A new day brings new opportunities to explore. If something goes wrong, there's always tomorrow today.

How are these metaphors develop? As children begin to understand the world and to organize. When we think of the brain as a filing cabinet, then childhood, when we open the file and labels. We often spend the rest of our lives putting new material in these old files. If the child was in good health, that we are, then we can have a good filing system. If it's a fight, we often see struggles for the rest of our lives.

What are your metaphors? This is not obvious in general. We go back a long way to see patterns like this in our lives. Examples:

• A Battle - Everything is a competition or a fight. We are always either we win or lose.
• Garden - Relationships are cultivated like flowers or vegetables. We see things as growth, flowering, production.
• A Mission - We believe we have the truth, and we have to convince others that it's just our perspective.
• A trip or an adventure - We travel from place to meet new people and explore.
• A building - Building on a solid base, then adding floors and rooms.
• In a roller coaster - Life is full of ups and downs, and we are on the trip.
• A stained glass window - full of light and colors.
• A mountain climbing - Life is made of hierarchies. We continue climbing the ladder.
• A career - always find the fastest route "after Jonses".
• A courtroom - Everything in life has to be fair.
• Stepping Stones - Just in settled that we are looking for better job or a bigger house.
• Prison - The feeling that we have no choice, and others have all the power.
• Classroom - There are always new lessons to learn.
• Battery - Every encounter seems to rob energy. We have the weekend to recharge.

These are just some of the metaphors of life that run people's lives. What metaphor (s) fit your life? Do they work or are having problems and your options? You can change the metaphor, but not easy. Good mental health includes having life metaphors that work.