Monthly Archives: September 2014

Today

Posted on September 14, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Sabbath is here. Hafiz, the Sufi poet, wrote this wonderful poem which helps me understand Sabbath more fully. The third stanza speaks to the need to be present in the world. It is each Now that we can testify to the truth. Yet, this truth is always transient, because I recall it later incompletely.

I do not want to step so quickly
over the beautiful line on God’s palm
As I move through earth’s
Marketplace
Today

I do not want to touch any object in this world
Without my eyes testifying to the truth
That everything is
My Beloved

Something has happened
to my understanding of existence
That now always makes my heart full of wonder
and Kindness.

I do not
Want
To step so quickly
Over the sacred place on God’s body
That is right beneath
your own foot

As I dance with
Precious life
Today.

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Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, David Whyte, eloquent questions, Hafiz, Mindful Practice, poetry, spirituality, Sufi, teacher as transformer, Today. Bookmark the permalink.

482. Spring flowers are long since gone. Summer’s bloom hangs limp on every terrace. ~Louise Seymour Jones

Posted on September 13, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

482. Spring flowers are long since gone. Summer’s bloom hangs limp on every terrace. ~Louise Seymour Jones.

Summer in Alberta took a beating this week. It snowed and in some places along the Eastern Slopes it snowed a lot.

I love the seasons and their change. The cycle of life is visible during the various times of the year in Alberta. We move from summer to fall to winter and Nature reveals herself in Her changes. It is in the cycle that Nature’s creativity is fully revealed.

This is the time of the year that farmers and gardeners harvest. It is a time of celebration, community, and gathering together in thankfulness for the gifts we receive. In a world where global interests prevail over the local, we sometimes forget our closeness to Nature and a need to be thankful through prayers, poetry, and Psalms.

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Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged community, creativity, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, nature, stewardship, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

What the Soul Needs Now

Posted on September 12, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

What the Soul Needs Now.

Rumi‘s poetry shines down through the centuries and provides insight in troubled times. When we are unsure and do not seem to hear the small voice inside of us, find an even deeper stillness and listen more closely. The voice is still there, being drowned out by distractions.

It is in the quiet and stillness we find the courage deep in our hearts and souls. When we do, we speak and act in right ways.

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Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, Rumi, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

affirmations

Posted on September 11, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

affirmations.

When we get up to face the day, it is nice to have a few words which help us move into the day. These affirmations provide different ways to speak into the day quietly regardless of what we face.

The post reminded me of writing by Parker Palmer, Thomas Merton, Wendell Berry, and Mary Oliver amongst many. The quieter we are, the more we still our mind and body, the more able we are to hear the soul speak its words of wisdom. Courage grows from the heart. The word courage shares the same roots as the French word for heart, coeur. When we take heart, courage emerges.

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Posted in Mindful Life, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, Mary Oliver, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, Parker Palmer, spirituality, teacher as transformer, Thomas Merton, Wendell Berry. Bookmark the permalink.

Tree of poems (1)

Posted on September 10, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Tree of poems (1).

This post includes the poem written in three languages, English, Roma, and Italian, along with a graphic. The graphic is fuzzy as it should be. Living is like writing a poem. The space between the words mean something and create a fuzziness that perhaps speaks more clearly than the words spoken.

Similar to writing, living is always a process of editing. The stories we tell and the person we are (our whoness and isness) is not fully describable. Memories are incomplete and fuzzy even the moment we step out of this moment. Moreover, can we even know what we missed and did not understand? Living and reading poetry are always happening in the Now. They always take on new meaning as we listen and act again.

Living is an ongoing conversation in the world and with its phenomena. We live in community where our humanness is what provides the common feature between us and Others we are in relationship with. The world presses in on us and is included in the conversation as it helps us make sense of the journey we are on.

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Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged community, conversational journey, creativity, eloquent questions, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

The Path

Posted on September 9, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

The Path.

This is a short poem which speaks to the humble beginnings each of us lives. Somehow, we occasionally forget these humble beginnings and the idea that each moment is its own humble re-beginning. We live in the most immediate time possible, now.

Taking time and realizing the path is made with each new step is a humbling experience, sometimes humiliating and always human. All these words, humble, humiliate, and human, share a common root, the word humus.

A path made of humus reminds us that there is a cycle to life. Each moment passes into a never fully retrievable history. In each moment, we live our questions when we are mindful and attentive in the world, not as observers. We live in community with the world and all its phenomena, sentient and non-sentient.

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Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry and tagged community, creativity, eloquent questions, Glacier National Park, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

mono tasking

Posted on September 8, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

mono tasking.

Plants and animals only have one job to do at a time. They may have more than one job depending on the season, the time of day, and the ecosystem’s needs. They are present in their work and help create the world they live in moment-to-moment. They do what comes naturally and is given to them in Creation.

Alfred North Whitehead stated all humans need to know is in Nature. When we are present and contemplate we are open to mono tasking, completing one task to its fullest, and helping create the world we live in moment-to-moment. Richard Rohr reminded me this morning that contemplate means to see, a witnessing.

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Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Mysteries, Yes

Posted on September 7, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Mary Oliver writes many poems about life’s mysteries, life’s questions, and the sacred spaces we enter in listening. During Sabbath time, I use her poetry to focus on stillness and allow questions to emerge. They poke their heads forward and are always joined by other questions. The answers are less relevant than the wondering that flows from each question. The mysteries are truly too marvelous to be understood.

Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous
to be understood.

How grass can be nourishing in the
mouths of the lambs.
How rivers and stones are forever
in allegiance with gravity,
while we ourselves dream of rising.

How two hands touch and the bonds
will never be broken.
How people come, from delight or the
scars of damage,
to the comfort of a poem.

Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers.

Let me keep company always with those who say
“Look!” and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.

24 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath and tagged conversational journey, creativity, eloquent questions, Mary Oliver, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, Mystery Yes, poetry, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Reblog Saturday – All the elements of an amazing community.

Posted on September 6, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

John Dewey wrote that we communicate those things we have in common when we live in community. The Rumi quote speaks to the human and humane nature of what that means. We often see the difference first. The French philosopher Jacques Derrida spoke about differance (there is no a in difference in French either) as being a place where we defer in the presence of difference. The word difference in French means both difference and deference. It is the place where we see the humanity in each of us as the core of human commonality. When we play with words, we come to some extraordinary places.

Beachcombing

Posted on September 6, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Beachcombing.

Florence Krall wrote about ecotones, those spaces where tides move back and forth across the shoreline always changing them.

Living is an ecotone where we are undergoing continuous change. This poem uses the word exploration in describing the way the world’s fingers reach in and touch us continuously. What are mindful about, awake to, and aware of us the world makes those contacts on our souls?

Humans live in communities of sentient and non-sentient phenomena. Leading takes on a whole new meaning when we think of ourselves as always touching and being touched by this world. It continuously brings new surprises to the fragile ecotone our skin represents.