The Power of Metaphor

10/31/2022

‘Adjustment’ means that maybe you can use your thinking power to make things better. You can make something out of your brain.
Tsuki, age 5

In the newest Exchange Press book, Making Adjustments, author Misa Okayama reflects on the power of using metaphors:

I often find myself speaking in metaphors in my conversations with children, using images and ideas to help us see beyond the immediate context and find unexpected perspectives. I use metaphors in my meditations in this book, too.

…From Kanji to haiku, from Japanese cultural symbols like cherry blossoms to passionate teachers who gave me eyes for seeing connections between things like mathematics and baseball, astronomy and music, I learned that everything is related to everything else. Metaphors are a way for me to explore the connections between things. I believe that metaphors help us look at things from a wider perspective; they help us think beyond what we’re experiencing in the moment and see connections beyond the immediate circumstance.

…In this book, I share the story of Tsuki’s block play. On the surface, her play could be seen as a demonstration of her well-developed construction skills and her social competence. But when I look at Tsuki’s play through the lens of metaphor, the meaning expands and carries me to consider my cultural history, our community’s legacy, and our school’s collective values. When I look through the kaleidoscope of metaphor, I grow new understandings of what it means to be human.

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