In the poem, The Uses of Not, Lao Tzu reminds me there is often an empty space that completes something and, for that matter, someone. A wheel needs spokes, a clay pot the hole in the clay to hold things, and rooms need doors and windows.
In life, I find myself trying to fill gaps and holes. When I am mindful, I recall to make something (w)hole it has gaps and holes embedded in it. The gaps and holes serve as spaces for energy to enter and exit. Without energy exchanges, I can grow stagnant and stale.
This poem was about the busyness of life. At times it seemed to overwhelm me when I taught. I tried to do more, rather than stepping back and finding space that served to heal and make me whole again.
Filling holes–
Plugging gaps–
Digging holes in water–
Seeking to be whole;
In the end, futile.
Remaining indivisible–
Complementing one another–
Completing one another–
Beauty reflecting one another;
Emerging in paradox.
Inviting, calling–
Opening life’s arms–
In its embrace–
Discovering loving space;
Living in life’s healing rhythms.
I opted for this video, as, despite the fact they are struggling, Tommy and Gina have each other. It is what makes them whole; that and living on a prayer.
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 
HEY IVON—YOUR HANDSOME HEAD IS ONE OF MY CURRENTLY ROTATING HEADER IMAGES! 😀
I saw that on a recent visit. Thank you.
😀
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
SEEMS FITTING—RIGHT AFTER THE LALEH CHINI ATORY JUST REPOSTED HERE, ALSO!
It does. We need to find ways to remember the gaps those who have gone before us filled.
TRUE
Nice reflections on space and complementarity. 🙏
Thank you Bela.