A classic example is that, at least in English, time is often described using distance metaphors
For me, I knew this was a metaphor, but until I took Mandarin in college I never realized that other languages/cultures/people used different spatial metaphors for time. Is the future in front of you, or behind? Are you moving towards it, or it towards you? This has some practical applications, since apparently even in English people have different intuitions about what it means to push a meeting or event up/out/back/ahead.
And English has it backwards. You can see the past, but not the future. The thing which just happened is most clear. The future comes at us from behind.
Tad James has a fascinating theory called timeline therapy. In it, he explores how different people represent their timelines and his theory about how shifting those representations will change fundamental ways you relate to the world.
For me, I knew this was a metaphor, but until I took Mandarin in college I never realized that other languages/cultures/people used different spatial metaphors for time. Is the future in front of you, or behind? Are you moving towards it, or it towards you? This has some practical applications, since apparently even in English people have different intuitions about what it means to push a meeting or event up/out/back/ahead.
And English has it backwards. You can see the past, but not the future. The thing which just happened is most clear. The future comes at us from behind.
Tad James has a fascinating theory called timeline therapy. In it, he explores how different people represent their timelines and his theory about how shifting those representations will change fundamental ways you relate to the world.