Again, today I jotted some notes in a small coffee shop while sipping tea. I thought how counsels that each moment reveals the extraordinary. When we are mindful and sensitive to those moments we lift them up and they are miracles happening around us all the time.
I taught a student who had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. He was a sweet young man and I made sure I was at school to greet him each morning as he got off the bus. One morning, he got off the bus and was wearing a fedora. I greeted by saying “hi boss!” I told him looked like Frank Sinatra. He had no idea who that was, so I found videos and played Frank Sinatra. Whenever that student wore his fedora, I greeted him as the boss. He smiled as it seemed to mean something more than ordinary.
When I am not attentive and mindful, I miss many opportunities. It reminds me of Maya Angelou‘s quote: “A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face.”
What do I walk past?
It seems ordinary in passing;
Yet, looking deeper
I see it:
The (extra)ordinary.
The ordinary unfolds
Revealing its extra-ness
Its depth and breadth
Richness hiding in plain sight.
A moment holds miracles
Waiting to show themselves off
Asking to be seen with new eyes
Sharing their more-ness.
I took this picture in Glacier National Park. The driftwood was polished and on the beach of the lake we were hiking around. What do I not see and hear? It is in the story of how this driftwood ended up here.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
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 
Reblogged this on crjen1958.
Thank you for the re-blog Chris.
i like to reblog, @ crjen1958, what i read an find interest in…
Keep deletedangel more open, i like to move the other two pages also, have not found away, which i´m happy with…
i´m fifty-nine now, did do much schooling,
nonetheless, teacher have a higher meaning in the world,
as i see it today…
Very good teach, a piece of driftwood just lying there, interesting what you or i did see,
was how did the driftwood arrive at this destination…
cheers teach,
chris
Thank you Chris. Like that driftwood, we are on a journey, being polished as we gather stories. Take care and enjoy.
Yeah! Even that thought, slipped my mind…
That’s a very powerful observation.
Thank you Dan.
We definitely need to watch for those magical moments that just appear out of the blue. Had to smile as I write notes everywhere I go…sometimes even on a notebook on the seat when I’m driving. When a thought hits, it is important to record it.
Robert Louis Stevenson carried two books with him at all times: one to read and one to write in. Your travels are well served by your habit.
I love your Boss story. And so cool that you took the time to educate him on Sinatra. He’ll never forget you. Ever. We remember our teachers like that.
We do. I told Kathy about a teacher in Grade 8 who gave me a big hug after I ran the 800 metre race.
It’s amazing. And the least we can do is carry that torch for such dedicated people.
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
A LOT OF MIRACLES WE MISS—FOR WE DON’T FEEL THE SPIRIT’S KISS! MIRACLES—THEY ARE INDEED WHERE OUNE LEAST EXPECTS THEM!
I like that: the spirit’s kiss.
Out of the mouths of older poets and children!!! 🙂