Metaphorical Thinking

Metaphorical Thinking – The Cloud Metaphors

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Reading Time: 6 minutes Metaphorical Thinking – Introduction Metaphorical Thinking – the Guest Metaphor Metaphorical Thinking – the Cloud Metaphors Metaphorical Thinking – the Web Metaphors The ethereal, shape-shifting quality of clouds makes them a perfect instrument for concepts that apply to metaphors, meditation, behavioural science, or computer science. I am on cloud nine. Every dark cloud has a silver lining.  I have my head in the clouds.   Cloud Computing In the remarkable Dictionary of Symbols by Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant, clouds are defined as “instruments of apotheosis and epiphany” and “clouds were connected with the symbolism of …

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What is Creativity?

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Reading Time: 7 minutes One way to define creativity is to look at the same things as anyone else but see them differently. Or, as Stephen King remarked in his book On Writing:  Two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.  Similarly, Adam Grant wrote in his Originals book: I once heard creativity described as being the ability to grasp the essence of one thing and the essence of some very …

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Metaphorical Thinking – the Web Metaphors

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Reading Time: 5 minutes Metaphorical Thinking – Introduction Metaphorical Thinking – the Guest Metaphor Metaphorical Thinking – the Cloud Metaphors Metaphorical Thinking – the Web Metaphors If you asked people in 1989 what they needed to make their life better, it was unlikely that they would have said a decentralized network of information nodes that are linked using hypertext. Farmer & Farmer   The Internet is derived from the words “interconnection of networks”, thus a global network of networks. The Web or the World Wide Web is information accessed …

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Metaphorical Thinking – Introduction

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Reading Time: 7 minutes Metaphorical Thinking – Introduction Metaphorical Thinking – the Cloud Metaphors Metaphorical Thinking – the Guest Metaphor Metaphorical Thinking – the Web Metaphors The Greek word of μεταπερειν translates in English as metapherein, the root word for metaphor. Metapherein is composed of meta (over, across, higher, beyond) and pherein (to bear or carry). A metaphor carries meaning from one word, expression, or image to another, connecting the two concepts. Hence, the word metaphor is itself a metaphor.  The metaphorical language consists of metaphors, similes, analogies, …

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Metaphorical Thinking – The Guest Metaphor

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Reading Time: 3 minutes Metaphorical Thinking – Introduction Metaphorical Thinking – the Cloud Metaphors Metaphorical Thinking – the Guest Metaphor Metaphorical Thinking – the Web Metaphors There are two instances that the metaphor of guest can explain or enhance: treat our children as guests in our life, and how our body is a guesthouse for our emotions. The first meaning is an idea coined by Haim Ginott, a mentor to John Gottman (Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child), Adele Faber (How to Talk so Kids will Listen…) or Laura …

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Types of People in a Company: Liquid, Rocks, and Islands

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Reading Time: < 1 minute As I said goodbye to my last job, I started to think about all the people I met there. While creating this mental list, I began to see a pattern. There were faces with no names, names that made me smile, and names that made me feel grateful. First, there are liquid people who fill a void, but when the door is opened, their names are gone from one’s mind. You might see them again on the streets, wave at them, but still, you …

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