Category Archives: Mindful Life

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.

Be Alive

Posted on November 15, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

I enjoy the counter cultural nature of Parker Palmer’s writing and the concepts in the Art of Hosting. I write about Parker‘s work often and he describes the listening we need to do to our inner teacher and others as counter cultural. When we invite people into conversation, listen deeply, and ask questions which shake our certainty about the world the same applies.

Today, I walked to the top of Cates Hill here on Bowen Island. It was spectacular. A colleague took this picture as I was writing. Notice I am on high ground and wearing sandals. I got up there of my accord

Perched pensively

Pencil in hand;

My senses alive

I awake–

Aware.

Sounds flow,

A breeze caresses,

Sunlight bathes,

Peaceful moments–

I bask in each.

11 Comments

Posted in Leadership, Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Uncategorized and tagged Art of Hosting, Bowen Island, community, creativity, leadership, Mindful Practice, nature, Parker Palmer, poetry, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

That Space, That Silence

Posted on November 14, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

It has been another long day. I am not always a politically correct person in the way some want. I struggle to say what the dominant group of the moment wants everyone to say. A reason we have polarization in the world is we want others to agree with us sometimes without giving reasons for it to happen. I might agree, but what about those who are not present?

That invisible space between us–

Between our truths

Sacred ground

Till it gently.

That silence you hear–

Almost imperceptible;

It is reverent

Hold it gently.

That space,

That silence,

Emerge magically

No recipe needed.

That space,

That silence,

Easily chased away–

Shhh…

15 Comments

Posted in Leadership, Learning Organizations, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged conversational journey, creativity, Educational Leadership, 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.

Witness

Posted on November 10, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

Denise Levertov wrote this beautiful reminder for me. I awaken and grow aware of the world I live in and with. I only need make the effort to open my eyes, my mind, and my heart

Sometimes the mountain

is hidden from in veils

of cloud, sometimes

I am hidden from the mountain

in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue,

when I forget or refuse to go

down to the shore or a few yards

up the road, on a clear day, to reconfirm

that witnessing presence.

8 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged beautiful reminder, creativity, Denise Levertov, Mindful Practice, poetry, presence, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Hear from the Heart

Posted on November 9, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

Silently–

Listen closely,

Differently–

What do you hear?

Pause–

Be open–

Allow momentary glimpses–

Here,

Hear from the heart;

Who do you hear?

The true self–

Breathe a soft invitation;

Surrender to spacious solitude;

Be with one’s self–

Be one’s self–

Oh, so gently.

10 Comments

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

The Right Moment Arrived

Posted on November 7, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

We were hit by a somewhat unexpected winter storm today. The forecasters predicted it for parts of northern Alberta, but it slumped towards Edmonton. Driving was slow, but I took my time and arrived on time, just when I was supposed to arrive. Sometimes in the fog or blizzard of life’s busyness, I lose my way. We are into report cards and we have the latest system designed just for us. I was not very happy yesterday and was letting stress get to me. Today, I took a message from nature and slowed down and it got done.

It arrived–

A winter storm

Unexpected,

I felt unsure

Slow down.

Grasping frantically,

Busyness overtakes

I let go

I arrive on time

In the very moment that just arrived.