‘Can’t see the wood for the trees’ – is one of those metaphors that never runs out of insight and is, therefore, the perfect metaphor to start my weekly ‘Metaphor And Me Monday’ posts.

The posts will explore the gifts within the metaphor that you use when you’re stuck, lost or confused with #MetaphorAndMeMonday posts illuminating where to find new insight.

I remember someone calling when they were paralysed with overwhelm. It was lunchtime and they had a deadline four hours away and just didn’t know what to do.

Two simple questions shifted them from overwhelm to focus.

The first question was “What idiom (of a list I gave them) best describes how you’re feeling?”.

“Can’t see the wood for the trees” was their response.

After inviting them to imagine the trees/wood that represented the current situation I asked the second question which was “what happens if you change the type of tree you’re imagining?”

“Oh my god - that feels so much better” they replied, and then added “I must dash I’ve loads to do” and put the phone down.

That’s the beauty of metaphor – no logical reasoning – no long protracted analysis of whys and wherefores – simply a situation transformed as a result of making changes to a visual representation of that very situation.

If that were you on the call — what would your wood look like today?

More on the power of metaphor next week.