Managing Our Inner Toad

Why small decisions require big-picture thinking.

I’m currently working on an important research project about how we use (and abuse) feminine and masculine principles in our everyday thinking. But park that for now.

First, let me take you on a potted history of cane toads in Australia. (I’m going somewhere with this, I promise)…

WWF Australia

In 1935, in an attempt to stop beetles destroying their sugar cane crops, Australia introduced cane toads from Hawaii. As a logical step this made sense. Toads eat beetles not sugar cane, so goodbye beetles, helloooo sugar!

Unfortunately, there were pitfalls in this eco-hack that had not been considered. Despite the toads not being consulted on their big move to Oz, they were actually thrilled with their new terrain! Leaving their natural predators and flowery shirts behind in Hawaii, they could thrive unharmed and unhindered in their new environment. Having a high reproduction rate anyway, without a natural place for them in Australia’s food chain, their population exploded across the country quicker than you could say ‘Strewth!’.

This was not good. You see, to be untouchable in a food chain tends to make creatures a little arrogant (just ask human beings!) They’d feast on whatever they wished without a thought for the biodiversity of a land that wasn’t rightfully theirs. Even creatures much greater than them got taken down, as these toads introduced a completely new toxin - a deadly poison to most animals. Native Aussies such as snakes, goannas, and freshwater crocodiles were all at the mercy of these smug little toads as they fearlessly multiplied with reckless abandon. As it stands today, despite years of exhaustive research and expensive control attempts, the crisis of the cane toad population in Australia is still an ongoing problem, with its original arrival of 102 toads now estimated at around 200 million of the little buggers.

Unfortunately, whilst Australia continues to fight the long-term damage of Operation-Cane-Toad upon their eco-system, it turns out the initiative delivered no real benefit to sugar cane production after all! I’d sure hate to be the guy who came up with that idea!

Why did I tell that story? Because we all have an eco-system within us. One which unites different thoughts, feelings, emotions, drives and desires that collectively contribute to our state of being.

So much struggle and confusion is derived from compartmentalising parts of the self without considering the relationship they have to our system as a whole.

I see this happening within individuals all the time, where something new gets introduced which causes us to completely neglect other crucial parts of the self. We might travel extensively without paying necessary attention to the impact on sleep and diet, and therefore mood and energy. We might take on extra hours at work to chase a promotion without accounting for the feelings of disconnection when we no longer see our friends. We get blindsided by a depression we can’t understand because we simply weren’t paying attention.

We’re constantly changing, evolving and responding to the world around us. We’re also cyclical creatures so our moods, energies and drives move through daily, monthly and yearly cycles. To demand consistency of our internal systems is already harming our natural rhythm! Therefore, a healthy way to regulate our minds and bodies is to continually observe the eco-system of our collective endeavours rather than treat the different parts of our life in silo. We simply need to keep an eye on how we’re doing and what different parts might currently need attention. If we make a little change here, how might that be impacted over there, etc.

It’s not rocket science. But why do we seem to be universally so bad at looking after ourselves? Well, my research so far would suggest that we (all of us) are in a hyper-masculine mindset. Governed and obsessed with living by masculine principles, to the point that the feminine ones get mostly ignored.

Masculine principles will tell you that things must be dealt with one at a time. Although this seems a logical attempt at simplification, it only causes more problems that need to be solved further down the line, saving us no time whatsoever and creating mayhem in the process! (#toad)

Feminine principles look at a problem as a whole. These principles embrace paradox so are able to manage the complexity of multiple components and their relationship to each other, both long and short term, at any given time.

This is not gendered, of course.

I wish I didn’t still need to make that 👆clear but sadly I do. Talking about the masculine and feminine tends to aggravate, assuming that one must be better than the other (which, I must say, is again because we’re thinking with our masculine!). Both deserve equal sovereignty as their contributions are vital to our well-being, and equally problematic if over-relied upon. Rather than glorify either/or we must regard and respect both/and. We have and need both faculties, and can switch back and forth between masc/fem thinking frequently. Ideally, we would use our feminine faculty to consider a problem in its entirety, before using our masculine faculty to streamline that comprehension into a decision and action. Unfortunately, we’ve conditioned ourselves to value immediacy over insight, and action over reflection. We’ve even demonised our much needed paradoxical thinking which might suggest we’re, God forbid, ‘over-thinking’, or ‘being sensitive’. Because what value could deep thinking and attuned feeling possibly have?!

If we start to value all parts of ourselves as a whole, it may help us consider the interconnected relationships between these parts, so we can make smarter, more informed decisions. That way we can avoid the pain and long-term suffering that comes when we introduce our own version of a cane toad!

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Reflection

If it’s a helpful visual aid, you can mind-map a problem before making a decision - ensuring you factor in every part of life that might be impacted (including internal parts and emotions/needs). Don’t focus on the wrong or right decision, focus on arriving at a decision that is considered and well thought-through. Then do whatever you like with that information! 🙃