Touchstones: A Metaphor

By Hedria Porrath Lunken

Originally appeared in the International Creativity Network Newsletter, volume 3, number 2, 1993, page 3.

She asked us to explain our art piece to the group. I did. I told them quickly, with little depth of information that the sailboat was important to me and spirals had a special meaning. How could I share what it truly meant? It evoked such deep feelings and emotions within me ...

It all started at a Creativity Conference in Amsterdam. I attended a session on Metaphors, a concept that until then had eluded me. We worked with partners in an exercise to help unravel our feeling, emotions and thoughts. Through reflection, mirroring and discussion of our awareness we were to find a symbol that represented the mood we were experiencing.

The exercise involved posturing and speaking with a partner until we could express our present feelings. We strove for a metaphor, a symbol of what we had been experiencing during the exercise, a symbol for the emotions that described us. It was a fascinating exercise affording me insight into myself that I had not seen so clearly before.

I chose a sailing ship since I felt very much like that at the time: a ship cast out to sea that was driven by the wind and needed controlling. I envisioned the ship. I could feel it moving with the wind. I felt that I had the knowledge to control it but had not yet fully discovered how to take command so that the wind would not dictate where I went.

What an accurate visual representation for a person charting a new course in life, in an original setting. (My husband had died less than a year before, and I was struggling to maintain my equilibrium).

Since then I have discovered the richness and beauty of using metaphors to measure moods and help me understand where I am. Months later when I heard the art teacher say, "Choose as many materials as you need," I did! Bark, shells, wood, copper, glass. . . I struggled with them, arranged them this way and that, to no avail. She told us that the materials would "speak" to us. Nothing was even whispering to me. I felt like I did in the fourth grade when we had to draw! Nothing was materializing, others in the group were finishing, and I was not yet started!

Yet I felt a strong need to accomplish the task. I wanted something concrete to put on my desk ? a sculpture to make a part of my personal being, an object to assist me in revisiting and remembering all that it stood for. After much frustration, I remembered the wood that a colleague brought in the day before. It was a piece that had truly spoken to me, although another person had captured it and brought it in. It had drawn my attention several times the day before. I had spent time examining and admiring it. I now understood the expression "It will speak to you. " When I first saw the wood, I had recognized "my sailboat," but I was painfully aware that it belonged to someone else. Cautiously I approached him: Are you going to use your 'wood'?" I held my breath. He considered it again and tried to work with it. It was my lucky day; this piece was no longer speaking to him and was handed over to my care.

The wood was mine! I caressed it, examined it and began to create my touchstone. I needed to add my touches and symbols to God's masterpiece to make it mine.

I had several shells with vivid spirals. Spirals have a great deal of meaning for me. They represent the stages in life that we all take: new beginnings and the going forward with a new venture. As we move up each level on the spiral, we gain more self awareness, knowledge and understanding, but at each turn we are once again feel the pull of anxiety, concern and fear.

I attached a few shells to the wood and had my symbol, my touchstone to explain to others. All that I could say to my colleagues was: Here is a piece of wood that represents a ship. It is a vessel in the sea of life carrying on it shells representing the stages and cycles of life.

I found sharing my metaphor both necessary and personal. It was something from within that bared my inner soul. My touchstone had truly touched a fragile cord ....

Contact Information: Hedria Porrath Lunken487 Morgan DriveLewiston, NY 14092. (716) 754-8406.