Magic of Modern Metaphor E-Book

David Hodgson

• Herausgeber: Crown House Publishing
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

A collection of stories for teachers, trainers, parents and thinkers sharing ancient wisdom through a modern relationship between grandson and grandad. Warm, funny and inspiring stories to be read individually or as a whole story by adults or children.

Leseprobe

Praise for the Magic of Modern Metaphor

David Hodgson has, yet again, achieved an outstanding feat of innovation and creativity. He has provided a simple process that can release immense creativity, curiosity and learning for both teachers and students. He reminds us not only about the importance and power of stories but also about how our own families can provide endless opportunities for learning and wonder if we took the time to ask the questions and listen to answers. I found myself strangely moved if not a little tearful. Magic.

RoyLeighton,educator,author and values consultant

Human beings cannot help but think of the world in terms of stories. The story amounts to an inbuilt template in our brains that puts our experience into context – remembering that ‘context’ and ‘text’ share the same root as ‘textiles’, meaning ‘to weave’. Stories weave up the patterns of our lives. And both adults and children love to hear (and spin) a good yarn.

Stories are also powerful because they work at many levels. We can appreciate them for their beginning, middle and a satisfying resolution at the end. But the roots of story go deep into the symbolic, metaphoric and holistic realm of the subconscious mind; into the soil from which grows the sense we make of ourselves and the world we live in.

In the Magic of Modern Metaphor David Hodgson has assembled a treasure box of the most wonderful sparkling tales – light, accessible, humorous and elegant in their apparent simplicity; ‘apparent’ because like all good myths, legends and fairy tales they plant seeds in our psyches that in time will bear fruit in many delightful and surprising ways.

SteveBowkett,author,storyteller,trainer

This book had me totally mesmerized from beginning to end! I found myself completely wrapped up in its spell as each little tale unfolded. The author takes us on a magical life-learning journey, using ‘bite size’ stories full of gentle humour and wisdom.

The metaphorical tales are genuinely heart-warming, without being sentimental, and all convey a spirit of hope and optimism.

David’s unique approach to storytelling had me enthralled. The characters in the book seem to ‘come alive’ and it is easy for readers to relate to their various experiences – some funny, some inspirational and some very touching.

I can see this book being enjoyed by all ages and being used in a variety of different ways. As a professional therapist and trainer, I would certainly find the stories useful to use with clients, both adults and children alike. But I would take equal pleasure in sharing and discussing the tales with my own family.

In fact, the author himself makes some interesting and creative suggestions in the introduction, as to how the reader might approach the book and make use of this collection of learning tales.

I found this to be an extremely enjoyable, interesting and thought-provoking book, which reminded me of the effectiveness of metaphor and the incredible power of storytelling.

MichaelaGill,hypnotherapist

We all love stories as they are a vital part of our humanity passed on through the generations. These stories are a mixture of old and new and are written with compassion and humility. Many have an ethical base and offer opportunities for discussing the great challenges facing modern society. There are some nice touches of humour which children revel in and above all the stories are relevant to life and living today.

DrDavid George,educational consultant

Dedicated to Jonty, Terry and Grandads everywhere for the magic they make.

Foreword

A storyteller was once challenged to justify the value of stories. ‘What contribution could they possibly make,’ he was asked, ‘to individuals, society and civilisation?’

The storyteller said: ‘Let me tell you a story …

Once upon a time three travellers were crossing the great wilderness of NOW on horseback. After a few years, they’d settled into some sort of routine. Each night, after a hard day’s journeying, they would unsaddle their horses, unpack their saddlebags, pitch their tents, eat dinner, check their e-mail and go to bed.

One night, just before bedtime, they were surprised to see a glimmer of light on the horizon. It grew stronger and stronger until its brilliance filled the whole of the night sky. And each traveller intuitively knew he or she was in the presence of some kind of Divine Being, and each one waited for the words of God that they knew were bound to come.

And the words came, and the words said: ‘Go forth into the wilderness. Gather as many pebbles as you may, and tomorrow will find you surprised, delighted, disappointed, and very … very … curious.’

And that was it. End of message. The last echoes of the deep and rumbling voice faded and the light dimmed and died. And the travellers stood there in the silent darkness. Until one exploded in frustration, ‘What kind of a God was that? Gather pebbles! The uselessness of it! We’re respectable travellers not pebble collectors. We want meaning and purpose in our lives.’

The second traveller added, ‘A real, value-for-money God would have offered us something practical and tangible. You know, how to get rich or be successful. What’s the point of pebbles?’

The third traveller said, ‘Divinely inspired wisdom would have showed us how to cut carbon emissions and other ways to save the planet. How on earth can pebble collecting be a sustainable and rewarding activity?’

But perhaps because of the gravitas of the voice and the force of the Messenger’s delivery, the three travellers did hunt around for a short time, gathered a few pebbles each and threw them dismissively into the depths of their saddlebags. And then they went to bed.

In the morning they rose, packed up, saddled up and rode off towards their distant and dimly perceived destination. And after another day’s travelling they went through their usual evening routine. Then, just before dinner, one went to fetch something he needed from the bottom of his saddlebag. And as he rummaged for it, his hand happened on something small, round and hard. Of course, a pebble!

But when he pulled it out and discovered it was a diamond, you might imagine how surprised he was. And he called his companions over. And they too discovered that all their pebbles had become diamonds. And you can imagine how delighted they were.

Until they considered how few, in their disdain and delusion, they had collected. And you may imagine how disappointed they were.

But as they were drinking their espressos and malted lattes around the campfire after dinner, they got to enquiring into the meaning of all this. The small pieces of rock which the previous night they had considered so worthless were now precious. And they began to wonder how many other things in their lives, things that they had previously considered of little or no consequence, might have a value that they hadn’t discovered, considered or even dreamed of yet.

And they began to get more and more curious about discovering meanings under the surface of things, which only now were they beginning dimly to comprehend with growing excitement and wonder.

David Hodgson is just like this storyteller. Through story, metaphor, anecdote and the ebb and flow of relationships and understandings, he points us gently and with great compassion towards making our own discoveries about the value of life and experience, and some of the great questions that challenge our society and civilisation today.

In the Magic of Modern Metaphor:Walking with Stars, David offers countless pebbles of wisdom for each of us to consider, reflect upon and explore for the depths of their meaning and the knots of relevance hidden under the surface of his stories and their quirky, entertaining, episodic narratives.

The themes he explores are critical if we are to provide stability and firm foundations for the sustainable development of ourselves and our societies in the years to come: these themes include family, community, continuity, tradition, sacrifice, expertise and ethics. The themes are as unfashionable as they are absolutely essential, if we are to survive this current depressing and self-referential era of rampant individualism, political correctness and one-size-fits-allism. Yet David has the skill and finesse to put these themes across with a delightful lightness and elegance that connects with our innate humanity and common sense, whatever our age, experience or background.

My prediction is that David’s stories will surprise you with their charm, variety and self-honesty.

They will delight you with their humanity and vitality, their nostalgia, insight, wit, wisdom and relevance.

You may even find yourself disappointed to discover, once you’ve made your acquaintance with the wonderfully eclectic collection of human beings, animals, birds, creatures and ghostly apparitions that inhabit these pages, that there aren’t more stories on offer.

And you will surely be curious to explore for yourself not only the hidden meanings and applications beneath the surface of these stories, but also the way they may elicit resonant memories from your own life; memories whose significance and relevance to your own learning and development still awaits your fully focused attention and interpretation.

This book has found you. Now it is for you to find out why.

Nick Owen Editor, storyteller and leadership mentor

Acknowledgements

Thank you to everyone at Crown House Publishing for their support and to Nick Owen, now an honorary Northerner.

Contents

Title Page

Dedication

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Part I: Introducing the Stories

Introduction

The Angel of the North

Ten methods for getting the most out of this book

Part II: The Stories

1. Swapping allotments

2. Birds that flock together learn together

3. Who is your favourite?

4. Blowing up balloons

5. Paper knickers

6. A sting

7. Dragonfly, frogs and toads

8. Gandhi visits the allotment

9. Barking (1)

10. Barking (2)

11. Gooseberry fools

12. Inside out

13. Outside in

14. Hairstyle

15. Walking with Freddie Mercury

16. Too small to make a difference

17. Mosquito nets

18. Not carrots and sticks

19. Billie Jean King

20. Negative or positive thoughts?

21. Curiosity

22. The Beatles at the allotment

23. A light buffet

24. The white horse

25. Choices and abilities

26. Greasy Alan

27. Present

28. Walking with Paul Daniels

29. What do big girls talk about?

30. Travelling

31. Ghost story (1)

32. Richie Benaud

33. FA Cup final day

34. Leek sleepover

35. Ghost story (2)

36. Bruce Forsyth

37. A focus of attention

38. Real education

39. Mountain climbing

40. Doing the right thing

41. Alan Bennett’s last meal

42. Bounty

43. Beer mats

44. Penalty shoot-out

45. Walking with David Attenborough

46. Walking through time

47. Barking (3)

48. Successive approximations

49. Grandma’s rugs

50. Jack’s favourite childhood toy

51. Perception is reality

52. Your hardest day’s work

53. The Hoppings

54. Hatching time

55. Building a pigeon cree

56. The Merlin factor

57. Sunday tea

58. Tony Marbles

59. Victoria Beckham

60. My very last trip to Billy the barber’s

61. The rules of whistling

62. Elvis and Marilyn

63. An interesting lift

64. Lisa

65. Jumble sale

66. Bazza the coach

67. Cigarettes and alcohol

68. Cheek to cheek

69. Bonty night

70. Answering Lisa

71. Rainbows

72. A night at the club

73. A holiday in Cyprus

74. Grandad’s CV

75. Get knotted buns

76. Wedding day advice

77. Important details

78. Walking with cowboys

79. A new Sunday tea

80. Looking for the magic inside the familiar

81. Expert or donkey?

82. Values

83. High standards

84. Lost in IKEA

85. Blackberrying

86. Karate lessons

87. Driving home

88. Angel of the North

89. Like or love

90. Word power

91. Fight club

92. Switching it off and on

93. Walking with the Stars

94. The secret of a long life

95. Leaving a vacuum

96. Sign of the times

97. Vote Ant and Dec

98. Grandad’s wild weekend with Madonna

Part III: Interpreting the Stories

Possible interpretations and questions to accompany the stories

NLP and the storiesTen useful assumptions to hold

Further reading

Copyright

Part I

Introducing the Stories

‘We were making the future,’ he said, ‘and hardly any of us troubled to think what future we were making. And here it is!’

The Sleeper Awakes, H. G. Wells

Introduction

The Angel of the North

On an exposed windy hillside in Gateshead an individual stands confidently over a community. When erected in 1998 the Angel divided local opinion; awe on one side and ‘couldn’t a million pounds be better spent?’ on the other.

The Angel has stood for over ten years now and it makes a difference. Once something exists it can’t not make a difference. It is part of the landscape but still seems to float above it. It can inspire and surprise each time you see it. I have driven by it many times on my way to a work event or on a family outing and its power is palpable. In my little bubble, in my little car, with my little worries I’ve caught a glimpse of the sun on a wing or the mighty silhouette against a huge tarmac grey sky and I’m taken out of my bubble, if only for a moment. A moment is long enough to contemplate better questions.

The Angel represents an investment in art and imagination over the practical and ‘real’. When combined, these two become a powerful force. Although the initial million pound price tag seemed excessive to many, an original bronze maquette (model) owned by Gateshead Council was valued at one million pounds on an episode of AntiquesRoadshow, the highest valuation given to any object in the history of the programme. The true value of things is not always obvious. Time changes and places change and so can people, individually and as communities. People often feel threatened by change. Yet only when we change do we grow and develop.

The Angel changes slowly. Its rusty colour is mellowing with age. It was built to last for a hundred years. Soon after its installation, the Angel was adorned with a huge black and white striped football shirt bearing the name ‘Shearer’ and the number 9, though only for twenty minutes until police arrived to remove it. The names of future North-Eastern heroes are as yet unknown but the Angel will be there as their stories unfold.

When Antony Gormley is asked to explain his Angel of the North he offers three thoughts: to remember the generations of coal-miners who worked in the darkness beneath the hill for two hundred years, to highlight the change from the industrial age to the information age and as a focus for us to explore our hopes and fears.

Gormley’s overall theme of a community seeking an identity through changing times resonates with everyone at an individual level. As we grow up we search for our own identity within our community, and this collection of stories reflects our individual journeys.

As we immerse ourselves in information, as a species, we could do well to remember that our own senses bombard us with perhaps three million pieces of information per minute. As individuals we filter and use only a small amount of this information. Understanding this filtering process and using it wisely is more useful than gorging on information.

Occupational psychologists studying human performance have explored the impact of training in four areas: information, skills, attitude and habits. Their research suggests that business generally concentrates on information and skills when it is attitude and habits that have a greater long-term impact on performance. Although attitude and habits are more difficult to influence, stories can offer a gentle yet profound route to challenge and change them.

Education, too, has increasingly focused on squeezing information and skills into a crowded curriculum. Perhaps we should remember that schools were originally formed in Ancient Greece to allow students and teachers the opportunity to share their ideas and perceptions. Such a two-way process grows attitude and habits. The word education derives from the Latin educare meaning ‘to draw out’. We are not blank slates, and stories are a rewarding method for drawing out the wisdom within all of us.

The majority of our attitudes and habits are formed as we grow up. If we are lucky children we are surrounded by angels influencing us in positive ways. Siblings, peers, parents, teachers, neighbours and communities are benign or malevolent guides. Grandparents, at their best, are the most powerful angels of all because their influence can spread through time, acting as a bridge linking the generations.

When we interpret stories we can’t be wrong. We create meaning that is right for us in that time and place. The stories presented in this collection offer the reader an opportunity to explore their attitudes and habits. Once we are able to gain greater clarity in these areas we can better develop our knowledge and hone our skills to be effective individuals and valuable members of our communities.

Ten methods for getting the most out of this book

Stories are the most important thing in the world. Without stories, we wouldn’t be human at all.

Philip Pullman

I’d like to encourage you to write your thoughts on the pages of the book itself (unless you’re in a bookshop as this can annoy staff). This is a great way to personalise the stories.

And if you do turn out to be famous, the scribbles you make in this book could make it far more valuable to wealthy collectors in the future. However, any financial benefits will probably be enjoyed by your children or grandchildren some time after you’re gone.

A psychologist studied two Native American tribes that lived side by side. One tribe allowed their infants to crawl freely and the other tribe restricted their movements. The tribe that allowed their children freedom were more advanced in terms of arts and crafts, tools used, writing and performing as a group. When we interact with our environment we learn more. I recommend you interact with the stories that follow.

Method 1

Relax. Read a few stories and stop when you find something particularly interesting. Reflect.

On a piece of paper write down five thoughts that occur to you. They could include: the meanings of the story, personal memories, how the story relates to things currently going on in your life or anything else. Return to your thoughts later.

Method 2

Read two stories (random or consecutive) and think of a way to link them.

Method 3

Read a story and ask yourself: How can I apply this in my own life?

Method 4

Read a story and ask yourself: What would I do next?

Method 5

Identify someone you admire and read a story as if you were that person. Then ask yourself what they would think of the story.

Method 6

Ask yourself: How would I change or improve a story?

Method 7

Ask yourself: What are my memories from childhood (people and/or events)?

Method 8

Roll a dice and then summarise the story in that number of words.

Method 9

Ask yourself: With whom would I like to walk? Next time you go on a walk imagine they are with you. Have a conversation (but best to do it inside your head unless it is a secluded walk).

Method 10: The group method

It’s not just good to share your sweets. Discuss the stories with a friend or group of friends if you’re lucky enough to have more than one. There is a great deal of research confirming the benefits of sharing our thoughts, ideas, opinions and dreams.

Part II

The Stories

If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.

William Blake

1. Swapping allotments

While digging some compost into the area where potatoes would be planted later in the year, Jack asked Grandad how it was that he had the best allotment. It certainly seemed to be the biggest and best, for it was situated at the end of the row bordered by a field, a hedgerow of gooseberries and a small wooded area.

‘Well, I went to see the bloke who had it before me, Mr Jenkins. I spoke to him for a while. He seemed to be the kind of person that liked to concentrate on the things he didn’t have rather than the things he did have.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘He told me the soil was too dry on the slope at the back. There was too much shade from the trees over there. It was the allotment furthest away from the village so it was a longer walk to reach it. I can’t remember the other things but there were many. I told him all the things I’d done to my previous allotment and that I’d basically finished making it the best it could be. So we agreed to swap.’

‘And you’ve made this allotment as good as it can be Grandad, haven’t you?’

‘Yes, and he went and made my old allotment as bad as it could be.’

2. Birds that flock together learn together

While walking to the allotment Jack asked Grandad why he still had milk delivered to the door when it was cheaper to buy it at the shops. Grandad said there were a few reasons.

‘Firstly, habit. We’ve always had milk delivered to the house and so did our parents before us. I also remember my Dad saying when they had milk delivered before the war the bottles didn’t have lids. Blue tits and robins learned to sit on the rim and drink the cream that settled at the top of the bottles. Years later foil lids were introduced and for a while all the birds were denied this easy and regular meal. Then the blue tits learned to tap away at the foil to break a hole in it and they could feed again. The robins did not learn this new skill.

‘Now, I’ve watched these birds and I’ve noticed that tits are sociable. They spend a lot of time in family and extended groups. Robins are more territorial and aggressive. They like their own space, thinking that if they can feed in a large area on their own they’ll have more food. Over the last few decades tits have done well and robin numbers have declined. Birds that flock together learn together, passing on their learning for the whole group to benefit.

‘We get milk delivered because I know the milkman and his family. We live in a community here, Jack, and I think we’re all better for it.’