Do you do the whole “Word of the Year” thing? It’s kind of an anti-resolution meme ~ rather than make a long list of pounds to lose, exercises to do, novels to write, and organic, free-range, sustainable, and vegan foods to eat, you simply choose one word. You envision who and where you want to be in a year, distill it down to one word, and let that word guide you. People choose words like brave, peaceful, joy, contented, determined, or breathe {which was mine last year}.
I’ll share my word for 2014 with you in a moment. First, I’ll tell you the word I really wanted to pick: Frog.
Yep, frog.
That doesn’t seem to fit with the above examples of inspirational or life-improving or empowering words.
As I pondered the changes I wanted to bring to my life this year, the words that came to mind were… well… not very inspirational. They were words like routine, structure, discipline, and focus. Exciting words for me, being the left-brain, organized, rational type that I am, but not really words that would catapult me out of bed in the morning to embrace the craziness and beauty of life.
But those were the words I felt I needed. I’m still navigating the paths of blogging, teaching, parenting, and living, and figuring out how and where they intersect. I’m searching for the elusive and magical thing we call balance. I haven’t been making enough time for yoga, for meditation, for my self-care, for the book proposal I want to write, or even the sleep that I need to be able to do all of the above! In the last few months, I’ve felt a bit paralyzed ~ so overwhelmed with so much to do that I don’t know where to start, so I just play Candy Crush and then watch Homeland and then stress out the next day because even more is left undone!
I know that the solution is in creating a new routine, new habits to stop procrastinating and start writing and meditating and playing and cleaning and cooking and sleeping. I need to follow Nike’s advice and Just Do It!
Which led me to frogs.
I haven’t actually read the book, but I’ve seen many people reference the anti-procrastination book Eat That Frog! The entire premise is that if the first thing you do in the morning is eat a frog, well, that’s likely the worst thing you’ll have to do, and the rest of the day will be easy. So do your biggest, most challenging, most undesirable task right away, and you’ll set the stage for productivity. The word “frog” will remind me to make the most of my mornings and tackle the big tasks.
And then yesterday I was reading The Antidote: Happiness For People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking, by Oliver Burkeman. The book is, as the title implies, an alternative to the positive thinking movement {think The Secret, et. al.}. Burkeman says we should instead embrace uncertainty and imperfection, consider the worst-case scenarios, practice non-attachment, and above all, not set goals! I came upon the following passage, which resonated with me because I was already thinking about frogs:
“What made the difference, in the end [for business consultant Steve Shapiro], was a conversation with a friend who told him he spent too much energy thinking about his future. He should think of himself more ‘like a frog,’ she said…. [S]he explained, ‘You should sun yourself on a lily-pad until you get bored; then, when the time is right, you should jump to a new lily-pad and hang out there for a while. Continue this over and over, moving in whatever direction feels right.’ The imagery of sunbathing on lily-pads should not be taken to imply laziness…. In fact, it promised to help him achieve more, by permitting him to enjoy his work in the present, rather than postponing his happiness to a point five years in the future…”
This time, the frog is a reminder to enjoy the present moment; and if, because I am busy with other obligations, I don’t make it to my yoga mat or my meditation cushion that day, I need to be content with the lily-pad I am on, realizing that it is where I need to be. And I can breathe and sunbathe there, too. {This reminded me of the recently released book on mindfulness for children entitled Sitting Still Like a Frog.}
I wondered, what else could “frog” represent for me this year? I did some Googling research on the symbolic meaning of frogs. So interesting!
Frogs are common symbols of transformation ~ think of all the fairy tales in which a frog becomes a prince. They represent kindness and plainness, but also our hidden potential and talents.
The word “frog” likely derives from the Proto-Indo-European word for “jump.” Frogs are associated with movement and change, but also with sunbathing on their yoga mat lily-pad.
photo credit: Jason Paluck via photopin cc
In yoga, frog pose is a hip opener, and our hips are fundamental to movement. The pose represents the constant change and transformation in the world.
And then, a frog would again represent stillness; I found lots of references to the oft-cited “fact” that frogs are so calm {bringing to mind the Buddhist concept of equanimity} that they will remain in a pot of water even as the temperature gradually rises to boiling, unaware of the changes around them, until they die. Which is actually not true ~ a good thing, as we don’t want to be so chill with the world around us that we die.
And finally, I arrived at the still-to-be-revealed word that I DID choose for the year when my searches turned up Michigan J. Frog.
Yes, the WB mascot. He originally appeared as a singing and dancing frog in a 1950s Looney Tunes cartoon. The man who discovers him immediately sees dollar signs, and tries to cash in on the frog’s unique talent. But he soon learns that the frog will perform only for him, and he is devastated. I remember liking this cartoon as a child, completely oblivious to its clearly Buddhist-inspired message: the man could have just enjoyed the beauty and wonder of his dancing frog, but instead becomes so attached to a particular outcome that he ends up miserable.
So after all my research, I decided I liked the word “frog” for the year, but it’s just a tad{pole} weird.
But I had found a dancing frog.
Dance? DANCE! That’s a word I can leap out of bed for! That’s my word for the year!
Because in order to dance, you have to get up and move. You have to eat the frog. You can’t read and think and ponder and plan and analyze ~ you just dance.
“[Life] is a dance, and when you are dancing, you are not intent on getting somewhere. The meaning and purpose of dancing is the dance.”
Allan Watts
And I think that has been part of my problem: “If I’m going to find ‘balance’ in my life, I can’t start until I have the plan and the schedule and the destination entirely mapped out in advance!”
When what I really need to do is dance.
“We don’t have a theology; we don’t have an ideology. We dance.”
Shinto priest
“Theories pass. The frog remains.”
French scientist Jean Rostand
Everything is a practice. Finding balance is a practice.
Dance is a practice. It’s active, but it’s also about rests and pauses. It’s moving with intensity, but it’s also stretching and recovering. It’s both spontaneous and choreographed.
I’m not sure what the rules are for the “Word of the Year” trend, and I am kind of a rule-follower, but I am going out on a limb {frog leg?} and proclaiming two words for the year: FROG and DANCE. {Frog Dance? Dancing Frog? Hmmm…}
Because, to me, these words together mean…
Structure and Spontaneity Routine and Transformation Productivity and Rest Sitting Still Tackling the Tough Tasks Leaping and Lunging and Lounging on Lily-pads
And, finally, because frog rhymes with blog, and today’s Finish the Sentence Friday prompt is “My blogging goals for this year are…”, I’m sharing my frog-inspired blog intentions for 2014:
Maybe my word is FROG after all.
Ribbit ribbit.
Top photo credit: Wikimedia Commons, user Charlesjsharp
Dance photo credit: vramak via photopin cc
- A Mindful Approach to New Year’s Resolutions - January 13, 2020
- Just This Next Step - December 16, 2019
- WAIT: A Mindfulness Practice for Waiting in Line - December 9, 2019
