I head into my Sabbath – I disconnect to reconnect. Last weekend we spent time in silence and in that space solitude appeared. I enjoyed a good week in a place I often struggle to find peace of mind. Besides the retreat, it was made easier as I participate in a wonderful group on a monthly conference call and we met this week. I also interviewed for a radio show about mindful servant-leadership. This was an incredible experience and will share a schedule, when it is available, for those who are interested in listening to it.
I can only say the peace I felt this week was a result of the silence and solitude at the retreat. This and sharing that experience with Kathy was a great time.
Spacious silence and solitude…
Within you I sought refuge
Peaceful and compassionate place.
There lovingkindness discovered me
The heart breaks open
Each moment its reward.
Silently the spirit reveals itself
Able to speak
Softly, gently, tenderly,
Begs for its quiet voice to be heard.
Solace finds me
An unmarked path emerges
One step at a time.
At week’s end
Gratitude for wisdom revealed
For week’s beginning.
About ivonprefontaine
In keeping with bell hooks and Noam Chomsky, I consider myself a public and dissident intellectual. Part of my work is to move beyond (transcend) institutional dogmas that bind me to defend freedom, raising my voice to be heard on behalf of those who seek equity and justice in all their forms.
I completed my PhD in Philosophy of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. My dissertation and research was how teachers experience becoming teachers and their role as leaders.
I focus on leading, communicating, and innovating in organizations. This includes mindfuful servant-leadership, World Cafe events, Appreciative Inquiry, and expressing one's self through creativity. I offer retreats, workshops, and presentations that can be tailored to your organzations specific needs.
I published peer reviewed articles about schools as learning organizations, currere as an ethical pursuit, and hope as an essential element of adult eductaion. I published three poems and am currently preparing my poetry to publish as an anthology of poetry.
I present on mindful leadership, servant leadership, schools as learning organizations, how teachers experience becoming teachers, assessement, and critical thinking. I facilitate mindfulness, hospitality retreats. and World Cafe Events using Appreciative Inquiry.
I am writing and researching about various forms of leadership, how teachers inform and form their identity as a particular teacher, schools as learning organizations, hope, nonviolence and its anticipatory relationship with the future, as essential elements to teaching and learning.
Academic publications can be found at Ivon Gile Prefontaine on ResearchGate
Teacher as Transformer 
Wonderful post.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
I appreciate the kind words.
Beautiful, Ivon.
Thank you Mike.
Hi, Thank you for stopping by my corner of the web and following my blog! I really enjoyed exploring your site and look forward to seeing more posts in the future.
The photo of this trail is beautiful. I often walk on trails in the forest each week. If I am anxious, or upset, nature soothes my spirit. I have not been able to work on the blog award, Ivy, for some days now, because of starting up my new shelter dog blog. I hope to do some work on it tomorrow! I love the poems you post. A deep bow – Jane
Thank you Jane. I enjoy a quiet walk. As you say, it soothes a restless spirit. A deep bow in return.
We all need that special place where we can find peace. I often find it at the water’s edge along a lake or river. Thanks for the reminder that we need to take time from our busy lives to enjoy the peace.
I love to spend time in nature and to read. When I discovered I was a profound introvert and what that meant, I had to learn to give myself permission to take quiet time. As Wendell Berry might say, “to be at peace with the wild things.”