Trying to think in a creative solution can be quite difficult sometimes. Trying to make yourself more creative can actually complicate the situation because the more that you try the harder that it gets to come up with a good idea. There are different techniques though that can allow you to change the angle of your focus as it were and bring out your creative side by seeing things in a new way.

A real good way to get you to think more creatively is to begin to use the power of metaphors. A metaphor is defined as:
1.    A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.
2.    A thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else; something abstract.

It is essentially a symbolic terminology for something else altogether. What metaphors allow us to do is to be able to relate to certain things in a completely different way by comparing those things to something else. Using the power of metaphor you can begin to see the world through different angles and in this way discover new possibilities and new creative intuitions.

Get stated by looking at the world around you and try to see a similarity between one thing and something else. You can for example compare a building to a Lego block and in this way see the building in a completely different way. Poets do this all the time and most poetry is really this symbolic use of language to find metaphors to try and describe inner feelings. By trying to find similarities yourself, you can begin to understand the power of metaphor to give us fresh perspective and more creative insight.

Whenever you can, look around and pay attention to how others are using metaphors. Pay attention to the way people are describing the things that they are doing, study how others use metaphors in expressing themselves both consciously and unconsciously. You will discover that most of us use metaphors in a very natural way, sometimes not even realizing that we are using them. It is most natural for someone to compare one thing to another in order to try to describe something to someone else. Metaphors therefore are a natural process of human communication.

Also begin to notice how you use metaphors when you are speaking. You might be surprised at how often you use metaphors and how easily you create relations between one thing and another. This will allow you to discover how creative you truly are when you just allow yourself to naturally express your inner feelings. Metaphors are such an incredibly powerful thing that they can actually limit our thinking if we are not aware of how much they are guiding our thoughts. For example it is quite possible that we might think that a firefly is actually a fly, but this is not the case, a firefly is actually a beetle.

Communication is essentially ‘symbology’. You compare one thing to another in order to try to express yourself to someone else, you try to find something that you both know well and you use it as a symbol to try and describe your internal reality to another. Metaphors are the natural expressions of this innate ability within us, and we are constantly using metaphors both consciously and unconsciously. By discovering how you and others use these metaphors in everyday life, you will discover your natural creative abilities. If ever you have a problem, or are finding it very difficult to try and come up with a creative solution, make a metaphor.