Category Archives: Community

Warrior’s Quest

Posted on November 17, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

I sat today and was going to post a Lao Tzu poem, The Uses of Not. I typed a short preamble and realized it was a Sabbath poem. Sometimes it is in paradox I find the most sense. It is in questions that I deepen conversations. I am in service of the questions. Earlier this week, I said I spent much of my life chasing answers. This is an echo of Father Richard Rohr who says maturity leads us to stop chasing certainty. I seek eloquent questions with no ready answers: and invite others into conversations. I might have used pirate, but I began reading Shambhala:The Path of the Sacred Warrior by Chögyam Trungpa recently and it offered a new understanding, for me, of the word warrior.

Paradox–

Seemingly incompatible tempest

Space invites space

Forms a spacious meadow.

Deepen conversations–

Without ready answers;

But, eloquent questions

Be open, surprised.

A warrior’s quest–

Lighten the load

Be grateful and receive the gifts

Serve the journey.

Shape paths–

Ready each step

Because it is right

And not fully known.

14 Comments

Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath, Synchronicity and tagged chogyam-trungpa, community, conversational journey, creativity, eloquent questions, leadership, Mindful Practice, poetry, shambhala, spirituality, teacher as transformer, warrior. Bookmark the permalink.

From Chaos, Hope

Posted on November 17, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

It was a long day. I just started thumbing through some right brain scribbling and this popped out at me.

From chaos, hope–

Faith springs from community,

Companions bring wisdom,

Symphonic voices–

Harmony of diversity.

Bind together

Mine eloquent questions;

Provides raw materials;

And life polishes–

Rare beauty under pressure.

Hold each other gently

Be unsure together

Be companions.

Break bread

Be safe in this place.

14 Comments

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

Unpretentious Intimacy

Posted on November 16, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

I am in Vancouver International Airport. I am tired, but, I think, I was rewarded these last few days. I am grateful I was able to turn in and reflect. After a tough day, I people around me reached out and seemed to sense my discomfort. The result was gratifying, but it was not the result. Instead, it was the comfort being with people who cared and brought me into the fold.

I wonder what makes me who I am? Is it the moments I drop my shield of invincibility and show a vulnerable self? That is a scary place, but is so rewarding. It is the slowness of a crock pot where the fruit of intimacy is born. Here, I gain identity in the a relational and caring mirror. But, it sneaks up on me without even realizing it is there.

In a wondrous space

One’s most guarded secrets;

Unshared desires;

Find form—

In a carnival mirror,

Is that me?

Vulnerable—

Lie with a lover

An uncertain first time

Truest intimacy blooms;

That is who I am

Revealed in the other.

Stay human friends.

14 Comments

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

What to Remember When Wakening

Posted on November 13, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

It was a long day. I was up at 5:45 AM, on a flight at 11:30 AM, and just wrapping up my day in a different time zone than the one I began the day in. Again, I had a great day and will find time to speak about it as the days move on. I am doing an Art of Hosting workshop and the first day was pretty incredible. It speaks to the David Whyte poem about thing coming to life even when unplanned and only need nourishment and nurturing to come to life.

In that first hardly noticed moment in which you wake,
coming back to this life from the other
more secret, moveable and frighteningly honest world
where everything began,
there is a small opening into the new day
which closes the moment you begin your plans.

What you can plan is too small for you to live.
What you can live wholeheartedly will make plans enough
for the vitality hidden in your sleep.

To be human is to become visible
while carrying what is hidden as a gift to others.
To remember the other world in this world
is to live in your true inheritance.

You are not a troubled guest on this earth,
you are not an accident amidst other accidents
you were invited from another and greater night
than the one from which you have just emerged.

Now, looking through the slanting light of the morning window
toward the mountain presence of everything that can be
what urgency calls you to your one love?
What shape waits in the seed of you
to grow and spread its branches
against a future sky?

Is it waiting in the fertile sea?
In the trees beyond the house?
In the life you can imagine for yourself?
In the open and lovely white page on the writing desk?

27 Comments

Posted in Community, Leadership, Learning Organizations, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, World Cafe Events and tagged community, conversational journey, David Whyte, eloquent questions, leadership, Mindful Practice, poetry, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Stay Human My Friends

Posted on November 11, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

I ready for my Sabbath break. Yesterday morning, this Bizarro cartoon was in my blog reader. Todd’s posts are short and provocative, so the link is to his site for those who have not been there before. He gives me pause to think.

I shared this cartoon with a circle of acquaintance. We discussed the Most Interesting Man in the World advertisements for an adult beverage. I am an abstainer so the ads are humourous, but there is no chance I will buy the product.

What about a broader message? Instead of closing with “Stay Thirsty My Friends” or “Stay Filthy My Friend”, we could say, “Stay Human my Friends”?

Thich Nhat Hanh reminds me, “find the ordinary in the extraordinary.” I often miss those things which make me most alive and human. I find, in the ordinary so often missed, the extraordinary and live a mindful life.

Stay human my friends

Be one with the universe

Be compassionate.

17 Comments

Posted in Community, Haiku, Humour, Mindful Life, Poetry, Sabbath, Synchronicity and tagged Bizarro, community, creativity, eloquent questions, haiku, humour, Mindful Practice, poetry, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Teaching on the Margins

Posted on November 6, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

Last week, I wrote Mojo Gathers Momentum. A gift of my journey to Bainbridge was the realization I had lost the belief I was a good teacher. I have never believed this was my place to speak to that. There is a certain humility a teacher should have and extends beyond patting myself on the back. What I do know and recognize is I am different teacher. I have modeled my approach after teachers I believed operated on the margins and accepted that is their place. It was a place that they could do more good for students and the communities we live in.

false security

when hidden

yet, fully surrounded–

paradox of my humanness.

stand out

reveal blemishes

make them obvious

revel in them.

great teachers

found comfort on the margins

not hidden in the crowd

stepped out with pride.

humanness lived;

so fully

it reveals imperfections

for I am human, after all.

28 Comments

Posted in Community, Education, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged community, creativity, education, leadership, Mindful Practice, Parker Palmer, poetry, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Courage on the Edge

Posted on November 1, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

The dominant society or group within believes they control the conversation. What would happen if we trusted each other and made ourselves vulnerable? What would happen if we acknowledged and accepted differences? It takes courage, but it is possible. It takes us to acknowledge the other and reach out. In those moments of vulnerability and courage, we expose our self in ways that take us outside comfort zones.

There is courage in vulnerability

One sits on the edge;

The perimeter

Or margins

Not hidden in the crowd.

Expand boundaries–

Encourage and pull

Do not discourage and pull

Make invisible visible

Give a name to the other.

Create spaces;

Not for agreement

But, where agreement meets

On the edges

Reveal the other in your welcome.

19 Comments

Posted in Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged Circles of Trust, community, creativity, leadership, Mindful Practice, poetry, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Do Pigs Have Udders?

Posted on October 30, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

I had some serious fun today with students. I was alone which is not the norm, but, on short notice, the parent helper could not make it. It is extra demanding on those days where I learn alone with the kids, but it is, many times, the most interesting times. While I was away a most interesting question came up: “Do pigs have udders?” Apparently, this was a hotly debated topic and it was brought up again today. I laughed. It was funny and pointed to an irrevocable truth: human curiosity and eloquent questions lead the way as we learn.

A simple question

Eloquently posed

Curiosity fueled;

The energy behind learning.

What does that mean?

Is it true?

Many more queries;

We seek and fill gaps–

Not with certitude;

Uncertainty prevails.

Years later

I am sure I will smile and chuckle;

I recall–

Appreciate the quality

A simple, provocative question–

Do pigs have udders?

As best as we can learn, they do and it was fun trying to figure it out. Adolescent children ask the darnedest things. Laughter is a great cure for even the most challenging moments.

14 Comments

Posted in Community, Education, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Synchronicity, Uncategorized and tagged community, education, eloquent questions, Mindful Practice, poetry, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Welcome Differences

Posted on October 30, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

I sat in SeaTac airport in Seattle for about 6 hours and had much time to reflect. The result was a number of poems. This one wrote itself based on a wonderful conversation about the need for leadership to allow the disallowable into the circle. We each have gifts to offer. It takes patience and a new conversation to welcome others into our tight little circles. In the end, we share a little of each other and there is more the same than different in all likelihood.

Patience–

We need it to converse fully;

A new conversation

One that allows the disallowable.

‘Intelligence’ prevails–

Facts and knowledge

Supplant heart’s courage–

Wisdom;

Common sense.

What seems obvious now

Was all along

We pause briefly

Just long enough

Observe–

Awaken, listen deeply.

Welcome that which is different

Invite him or her forward

Complete the circle–

Another piece of peace.

Each unique view fills a void

Give each one voice

Herald it with life;

It is one I do not have

I cannot have

It belongs to someone else

Yet, to me, as well.

12 Comments

Posted in Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Poetry and tagged community, creativity, leadership, Mindful Practice, poetry, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Gentle Rain

Posted on October 28, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

I wind down the week and head into Sabbath. It is odd to say and write those words, because I have celebrated Sabbath since my arrival at Bainsbridge. When I come to a courage retreat, I enter into a covenant, at least with myself, that I slow down, talk less, and listen more deeply to others and myself. The great thing is this is the norm here. Time is purposely and purposefully set aside to share in small groups, listen and be fully present for each other, reflect in our corners, and find our way back to the joyful circle of kindred spirits. It is unlike any other conference, workshop, or training I take. The focus is on opening up creative space and that requires different being present. It is a space of vulnerability and solidarity, of coming together to find ourselves coming home.

I meditated this morning and sat inside the main hall. It was raining which I understand is often the case in Seattle at this time of the year.

We sat inside the drum;

A small group

I heard rain overhead

Its song reverent

A gentle tap on the roof

Occasional increases in tempo

More rhythm in that fresh moment.

Perhaps, as gusts of wind shake trees–

Fresh dreams

Break us free from reverie

Together, we embark

Explorers

Perhaps, even pirates.

From golden hearts

Gentle invitations sent

And received.

Whatever, each chooses;

Wherever, each walks;

Remember–

We do it together

Joyously, in community

We carry a little of each other on this journey.

Last year, after the sudden and tragic passing of a young woman we met several years ago, I recounted a Buddhist understanding passed on by Senryu Suzuki and Thich Nhat Hanh. Each person we greet on life’s journey leaves an indelible imprint on us. We only need to stand or sit quietly and listen and like a wind and gentle rain voices are heard again and again in the silence of that moment.