Quotes of the Week from Me:

“Some answers in life will never reveal themselves preemptively.”

“Two philosophies for you. One, our perception of reality is shaped by our beliefs. Two, our beliefs are shaped by our perception of reality. Which feels truer to you?”

“Ugly faces lead to beautiful reps.”

Quotes of the Week from Others:

“When you choose to speak, it says something about you. When you choose not to, it also says something about you.” – Unknown

“Peace of mind produces right values, right values produce right thoughts. Right thoughts produce right actions and right actions produce work which will be a material reflection for others to see of the serenity at the center of it all.” – Robert Pursig

“I can do nothing for you but work on myself. You can do nothing for me but work on yourself.” – Ram Dass

Quick Optimism:

“Ugly faces lead to beautiful reps.”

In college I became (more) obsessed with lifting. Rarely did I got a day without finding myself in the gym but most importantly, watching motivational videos on YouTube with friends in my dorm room beforehand.

I did enough right to be grandfathered in as the team’s “training guru” and I took a lot of pride in coaching some of the newcomers to the team each year. It was important to me that we set standards for strength and high performance in preparation for the season.

Part of the fun with lifting is coming up with little phrases to get people energized to work hard. One of them was “ugly faces lead to beautiful reps.” If you work long and/or hard enough, typically you’ll start to see people strain from effort. It’s also called your “gym face” and the heavier you lift, the more the weight pulls on your upper back, shoulders, and neck as they try to stabilize your body against the weight. It leads to a natural reaction of your body trying to realign itself, giving you “gym face.”

There may be some deeper meaning here, but this week, I’ll let you decide because it’s time to talk about blue frogs down below.

Question of the Week:

Do you like frogs?

This week a blue poison arrow frog twitched and I jumped. I kept leaning closer and closer into the glass, almost in disbelief that the frog was real. It wasn’t moving, at least I couldn’t tell, and it was one of the most beautiful amphibians I have ever seen. Wet, slimy, and squishy, but beautiful.

The blue poison arrow frog, or blue poison dart frog, lives in “forest islands” located in northern South America. Yep, I Googled that. Somehow a couple of them found their way to Burlington, Vermont so us Vermonters could learn a bit more about them.

They are small, measured in centimeters, and their bright blue skin is a clear indication of nature’s special warning signs. As a kid, possibly like many kids, I was always drawn to poisonous frogs. Probably not the best intuition for surviving in the wild. But my excuse is that my parents used to buy me colorful toy frogs and my dude friends and I always bonded over the most dangerous ones.

So, I know generally that they are poisonous, but that just makes them that much more badass and fun to look at.

As I continued my frog Googling this week, I was reminded about the power and beauty of nature and its creatures. I feel fortunate to live in a place where I don’t have to worry about frogs attacking me with poison, but the number of places and animals to learn about will always provide additional perspective.

Some things I learned, others I relearned about these bouncy little friends of ours, but I wanted to leave you with some frog symbolism this week.

Although poisonous, some cultures recognize frogs as healers. They are seen as cleansers through their songs and connections to good luck and wisdom. Finally, they are able to share their knowledge and power through their long tongues. Though I typically avoid being touched by those.

A poisonous, nature focused, change of pace for you this week.

Make it an adventurous Monday.