Noelle Kocot wrote about being contented as a human. I find my space not in the competition and busyness of living, but being human is in the never being done.
There is a sense of wonder in stepping back and accepting what the moment offers. It is about the awe that wandering with an open heart and mind allows me to have. I stay open to the world and to myself when I remember living is not competition. I cooperate with everything I meet and experience.
If I claim I was a terrible, horrible,
Evil no-good person,
It would be a lie, and it would be
Wanting always to be the best or the worst.
So now I’m destined to wander,
My bag full of pride a lot lighter,
And if I say I am done
With whatever ails me,
That would also be a lie.
I am not done, will never be done
Till the day I die,
But I am content to be human,
Naked and shaking with love
At the moment, and the next moment,
I just can’t say.
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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 and its anticipatory relationship with the future, and hope as an essential element in learning.
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 
It’s all about shades of grey and accepting who you are. Sometimes I’ll look at some famous scientist or actor or astronaut and think, “Why can’t I be like that?” And then I remember the reasons why I didn’t take those paths in life. Great poem – thanks for sharing 🙂
I agree Michelle. It is about the nuances and shading that happens.
wonderful aspiration, Ivan!
when conditions are pleasant
i can relate to accepting & giving
in such a way
moreso than when
conditions are difficult 🙂
Well said in such a pleasant and poetic way.
Sort of like being able to be still instead of rushing. Thanks for this Ivan.
You are welcome.
A most excellent thought…
Thank you Todd.
Lovely, Ivan. Be the flow.
That is a great sentence to live by Carrie. Be the flow.
I can be contented.
As a human?
Hmmm…more reflection needed! xoxoM
We can be, but it is not easy work. Or, that has been my experience.
Nice. Really nice. 🙂
Thank you Lisa.
Humans seem to always want to reach for more…!
We do. It is instintive.
Well said,
Stepping back accepting what the moment offers, How often do we do this.
Our past, our flaws, our failures need to be accepted before an opportunity like this moment is available.
Not easy to be empty, free of judgment, of self criticism to meet wonder where it lives.
It is difficult to step back. I found setting time aside for quiet helped this space to appear more frequently in my ongoing living.
How wise, Ivon. Thank you.
Thank you Cynthia.