Monthly Archives: October 2012

Mindful Attitude

Posted on October 16, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

I read three articles this weekend and Father Richard Rohr’s daily meditation this morning. I found a clear message in each source and this message has slowly been revealed. Sabbath is a necessary part of my life and I slowly discover its purpose in a mindful attitude. It is in life lived mindfully I obtain a radical unity with my self, creation, neighbor, enemy, and always with God, step by step.

A mindful attitude–

Seek to choose well

Blend fiery passion

With compassion’s loving kindness.

Let life’s fruit mature;

Ripen deeply

Nurture life’s fully.

A spiritual banquet nourishes

Deepest meanings revealed

I Respond to life’s bounty.

Assume responsibility

For one’s self

For each other.

Welcome the world

Understand–

With childlike wonder

Become one;

Become whole

Transform the self.

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Posted on October 15, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

Whenever Mike posts an image of his part of the world and its rural history, I am reminded of trips to the farm and the found memories they hold. It is a great way to start the week.

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From Teaching a Stone to Talk

Posted on October 14, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

Annie Dillard is a wonderful writer whose prose has a great poetic quality. Her words ask me to find quiet and solitude provided on the Sabbath. In that quiet, I go deeper and seek peace among the turmoil.

“In the deeps are the violence and terror of which psychology has warned us. But if we ride these monsters deeper down, if you drop them further over the world’s rim, you find what our sciences cannot locate or name, the substrate, the ocean or matrix or ether which buoys the test, which gives goodness its power for good, and evil its power for evil, the unified field: our complex and inexplicable caring for each other, and for our life together here. It is given. It is not learned.”

Take care and see you Monday.

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Posted in Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath, Writing and tagged Annie Dillard, community, literature, Mindful Practice, philosophy, poetry, quotes, spirituality, teacher as transformer, writing. Bookmark the permalink.

Posted on October 13, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

What an interesting thought; I should ask myself everyday, “Am I living or simply dead and not buried?”

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The Poet Speaks

Posted on October 12, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

Yesterday, after I posted a Vaclav Havel poem, It Is I Who Must Begin, I realized there was more than just the poem at play. Sam Intrator in Teaching with Fire, which he co-edited with Megan Scribner, commented in a section entitled Tending the Fire: “Poetry, by its capacity to touch the human soul and tap into the deepest wellsprings of our being, opens up opportunities for us to stay vital and alive” (p. 210).

As I reflected on yesterday’s poem and the role that poetry plays in my life, I realized poetry is a series of conversations. It is both an internal and external process. I turn in with each word, symbol, and term and ask “What does that mean in my life?” I also, in that internal conversation, hear the poet, who is present, through his or her words.

I sit

Book in lap

Each word, space, punctuation

Each has meaning

A personal truth

For each heard differently.

I listen closer

My body leans in

I don’t want to miss any essence

I hear a voice

As in the company of another

Is the poet here with me?

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Posted in Poetry, Reflective Moments, Uncategorized and tagged creativity, Megan Scribner, Mindful Practice, poetry, Sam Intrator, Teaching with Fire, Vaclav Havel. Bookmark the permalink.

Posted on October 12, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

Here is a quote that makes sense to me on many levels. We are constantly in an ocean of personal change, so it is only those who accept us for that element of our humanity that truly care for us.

My Positive Outlooks

If people refuse to look at you in a new light and they can only see you for what you were, only see you for the mistakes you’ve made, if they don’t realize that you are not your mistakes, then they have to go. ― Steve Maraboli

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It Is I Who Must Begin – Vaclav Havel

Posted on October 12, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

I made a promise coming into the school year. I would keep my head, do only what I can, and not flounder. I won’t let things get me down. I find solace in writing, nature, with Kathy, and in reading poetry. Some days I just open a book and find a poem which speaks to me in such a clear voice I think the poet stands or sits across from me sharing their words. That is what happened with this poem by Vaclav Havel.

It is I who must begin,

Once I begin, once I try—

here and now,

right where I am,

not excusing myself

by saying that things

would be easier elsewhere,

without grand speeches and

ostentatious gestures,

but all the more persistently

—to live in harmony

with the “voice of Being,” as I

understand it within myself

—as soon as I begin that,

I suddenly discover,

to my surprise, that

I am neither the only one,

nor the first,

nor the most important one

to have set out upon the road.

Whether all is really lost

or not depends entirely on

whether or not I am lost.

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Posted in Mindful Life, Reflective Moments and tagged Mindful Practice, philosophy, poetry, reading poetry, teacher as transformer, Vaclav Havel, writing. Bookmark the permalink.

Posted on October 11, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

In a day and age where we think the latest fad, technological or otherwise, this is refreshing food for thought. Real differentiation operates child by child.

elketeaches

C’est vrai: French president promises to ban homework
French call for boycott of homework

I believe homework is evil in the primary years, especially for students that are NOT struggling with the fundamentals. The quality of homework that my son has been coming home with has been decreasing and becoming less imaginative and non creative (currently Grade 3). It does nothing for him except make him HATE school. It’s boring! He gets little reading books that are on topics that do NOT interest him. I’d rather see him totally engrossed in a good book (like Harry Potter, Wimpy kid or The Hobbit) than see him unhappy doing his homework….which by the way he feels he must do so that 1) his teachers are “happy” & he doesn’t get in trouble and 2) so he can get the “fake dollars” to buy stuff!

Differentiation – I would be less anti-homework if…

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Insight

Posted on October 11, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

The picture below was not taken today. Winter arrived. In some parts of our fair province 10-15 cm (3-5 inches) of snow fell. The insight is that it will be back up about 15 C on the weekend. Behind each cloud lays blue sky. I only have to wait.

Behind sullen clouds;

Insight awaits

In spaciousness.

Effortlessly

Be present

Hear silence.

In refuge

Rest heart and mind

Drift with the current.

Behind clouds;

Blue sky

Be patient.