It's true that in England, we have been lurching between cold winter temperatures and a searing summer heat, but actually it's spring time. There's blossom on the trees, lambs are in the fields, and new shoots are becoming visible. Life is fizzing away out there. I've been watching the progress of the tadpoles in my pond, with an earlier memory of a swarthy frog sitting on the edge, quite still, eyes bulging, throat pulsing.
"Sitting still like a Frog" by Eline Snell, is a Mindfulness book for kids in which they are encouraged to do just that. Frogs have a wisdom in taking moments to sit and simply notice, alert but relaxed, wasting no energy doing anything that is neither desired nor necessary. In this mode, they just absorb life unfolding around them and within, moment by moment. The frog is simultaneously part of life whilst also observing it. You might say that the frog is at one with the Universe.
When I think about it, I'm astounded at the ease with which I can get busy doing things that seem like a good idea at the time, but wind up just wasting energy - physical, mental, emotional.
To misquote Eckhart Tolle (who spoke of cats) - I have known many Zen masters - and most of them were frogs.
We humans have largely lost that reptilian skill, to stop intuitively and simply notice, allowing our senses to bring us real-time information on the state of things - inside and out.
In Spring, we're especially aware of life around us as nature wakes up, but actually life is always around and within - even when things feel dull, lifeless or overwhelming. What is it actually like to check in for a moment with life unfurling around you and within your own body? Whatever is going on, there's a freedom in sensing that fizzing, pulsing, pausing, tingling, numbing, aching, sparkling - and tuning in to the vast spaciousness that somehow holds all of that.
“A frog is a remarkable creature. It is capable of enormous leaps, but it can also sit very, very still. Although it is aware of everything that happens in and around it, the frog tends not to react right away. The frog sits still and breathes, preserving its energy, instead of getting carried away by all the ideas that keep popping into its head......
Anything a frog can do, you can do too.”