Category Archives: Synchronicity

THERE IS FOREVER IN A FOREST

Posted on June 25, 2019 by ivonprefontaine

Eric offers the reader a beautiful poem and image. The poem reminds me of how Wendell Berry might write about a forest. Nature, in each of its forms, is infinite, existing forever.

It is interesting how serdentipitous life can be. I read Wendell Berry this morning and emailed about him with a colleague yesterday, specifically his poem The Peace of Wild Things. It is a short poem I turn to when I struggle with things and the world. It reminds me there is beauty in the world that can be our salvation. Instead of being outside Nature, we grow to understand ourselves as embedded and part of Nature.

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Posted in Blogging, Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Social Justice, Synchronicity, teacher as transformer, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged blogging, community, creativity, environment, Eric M. Vogt, leadership, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, nature, photography, poetry, stewardship, teacher as transformer, The Independent Poet, The Peace of Wild Things, Wendell Berry, writing. Bookmark the permalink. 13 Comments

….and Mary Oliver spoke

Posted on February 21, 2019 by ivonprefontaine

via ….and Mary Oliver spoke

Udo posted this quote from Mary Oliver‘s poem, The Summer Day. It is my favourite line from all of her wonderful poetry and challenges me to reflect on and act on the purpose and calling of my life’s vocation.

Mary Oliver reminds me life and its many callings are not filled with certainty and fixed paths. Instead, I wander and wonder as I take detours and hope I find my way.

I share this line teaching and presenting, as a reminder life is about unexpected and, sometimes, we have to permit ourselves to stop and experience what we often drive by and take-for-granted.

Robson

On trips to visit in British Columbia, Mt. Robson is a favourite stopping place. The mountain is a sentinal over the valley, with wilderness gems to experience and revel in as I live my one and wild life.

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The waterfalls are located in the Crowsnest Pass. Like Mt. Robson, I gave myself permission to pause and experience being in nature and not just a visitor.

Posted in Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Synchronicity, teacher as transformer, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged blogging, environment, experience, life, living, Mary Oliver, Mt. Robson, nature, relationships, waterfalls, writing. Bookmark the permalink. 22 Comments

A Simpler Life

Posted on August 7, 2018 by ivonprefontaine

Kathy and I are doing some house cleaning and it is interesting what we find.

Kathy looked through some papers we had stored and found poetry I wrote in 1969, in Grade 10. There are things that are consistent in life and one of them is seeking moments of solitude and silence, which I wrote about in this poem. I took liberties and edited the poem, orginally called The Simple Life.

It is good to be alone at times,

Sheltered by comforting trees,

The wind singing a song,

Here, I experience freedom and peace,

For the moment, worries set aside.

Minnows dart at the water’s edge,

Dancing between light and shadows,

Seemingly, without a care,

There, they experience home’s safety;

Its primal call.

Here, this is me,

I experience a simpler life;

An unseen hand beckons me,

I wave to this simpler life,

Enjoying it each time I return.

I took this picture in Waterton Lake National Park several years ago. I came around a corner and there was a doe and two fawn. I could have touched the one fawn it was so close, but it was separated from its mother. I stood as still as possible, moving slowly to get the camera ready. The mother whistled to the one fawn and waited until the young one found its way over to her, back to the safety of where it belonged.

27 Comments

Posted in Leadership, Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Synchronicity, teacher as transformer and tagged creativity, leadership, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, nature, photography, poetry, silence and solitude, solitude, teacher as transformer, waterton lakes national park, writing. Bookmark the permalink.

goldenquotesrb

Posted on March 22, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

Source: goldenquotesrb

I began following this blog recently and it has many great quotes.

Einstein is one of my favourite sources for quotes. When I taught, I had a poster in the classroom with this quote: “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”

One day, a student asked who the person in the poster was. I replied that it was my dad. Another student said that could not be true. I answered that we both had wild hair and were eccentric. A third student pointed out Einstein’s name on the poster, but from that time on, students always asked which dad I talked about when I said something about my dad. It was a great way to teach about literal and figurative ideas.

Being present includes responding reflexively in appropriate ways. Listening to others mindfully, I can respond properly. When I began to teach, I found it hard to do that, often tripping up, saying the wrong thing, and sometimes nothing at all. With experience, I grew and became more effective, listening carefully to what others had to say.

13 Comments

Posted in Education, Humour, Synchronicity, teacher as transformer, Uncategorized and tagged Albert Einstein, being present, conversational journey, creativity, education, Mindful, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

The Real Work

Posted on February 12, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

I found it interesting that as I searched for a poem I typed in the words The Real Work by Wendell Berry. As Google anticipated, another search emerged: The Real Work by Gary Snyder. This book of essays emerged from a series of interviews and talks Snyder conducted over several years.

Wendell Berry and Gary Snyder are writers, environmentalists and farmers who live in Kentucky and California respectively. Together, they wrote a book called Distant Neighbours and shared their views about the real work they undertook as writers, environmentalists, and farmers. How each of them understood and wrote about real work echoed the other.

Real work happens not when we find ourselves going through the work aimlessly and mindlessly. It emerges when obstacles arise and we are mindful and attentive in our work. It holds our interest through baffling us and our being unsure of what to do next. As we work thoughtfully and our mind is employed in meaningful acts, our work sings like an impeded stream and makes us whole. It is like we our speaking through our work and its meaning to us.

It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.

14 Comments

Posted in Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath, Synchronicity, teacher as transformer and tagged community, creativity, Gary Snyder, mindful leadership, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, teacher as transformer, The Real Work, Wendell Berry. Bookmark the permalink.

All That We Share (Watch!)

Posted on February 7, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

Video post by @davidkanigan. This is a great post from David and worth the few minutes it takes to watch it.

Source: All That We Share (Watch!)

As I watched this video, it reminded me of an undergraduate class I took. It was the only class non-special needs undergraduate students could take.

I recall how our text and professor focused on the idea that we have far more in common than what makes us difference. At the core, we are each humans and, when we see each other in that light, it makes all the difference.

When we take time and are mindful to each person present to us, we can grow and understand their presence is a gift to each of us. The differences make us each a unique star in the universe, but there is more to each of us that makes us the same.

15 Comments

Posted in Community, Education, Leadership, Mindful Life, Reflective Moments, Social Justice, Synchronicity, teacher as transformer, Uncategorized and tagged community, conversational journey, education, Mindful Practice, servant-leadership, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

The Shadow

Posted on February 6, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

Last night, as I posted, the words of a paragraph began to take shape as a poem and Mary Oliver’s words echoed for me.

Today, I took those words and echoes and finished the poem. It has been some time since I wrote a poem. Perhaps, without the urgency of writing a dissertation, this just happened. As well, the break without a need to read and write may have helped and freshened my desire to write differently.

There is no sense of urgency.

Here, I am in the shadow of nature

It uplifts, holding me close.

Nature reminds of less mechanical ways and times;

Of just being and living in the moment.

Pelicans dive bomb the surf in an instinctive search,

Oblivious to me, they bob on the waves.

At night, stars fill darkness and stillness,

They wait to be touched.

Oxen pull a plow across the hardpan soil,

They follow a deep-rooted instinct lost on me

The horse trotts a path, familiar to it

I sway, recalling greater comfort the last time I rode.

I recall days past.

I unsmother moments, days and experiences

My dreams call out to me;

They breathe life into my being.

Here, I sense what it might mean to live and just be.

Without urgency, there is a lightness in my gait.

9 Comments

Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath, Synchronicity, teacher as transformer, Writing and tagged community, creativity, Mary Oliver, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, nature, poetry, teacher as transformer, The Shadow. Bookmark the permalink.

The Race

Posted on September 17, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

Today, as I walked back to my humble abode, I noticed a squirrel on the sidewalk ahead of me. Squirrels are plentiful around the neighbourhood and I enjoy playing games with them. I know a simple man is taken by simple pleasures. Usually, the squirrel hides or tries to hide. I softly say, “I see you” and it scampers further up the tree.

This time I saw something different. A cyclist came along. The squirrel waited purposely for the cyclist to draw even and then it scurried up the walk in a straight line. The cyclist cast a sideward glance much like Usain Bolt might in a 100 metre race. Suddenly, it veered off in the middle of the race presumably drawn to some other target.

I am reminded of the Buddhist concept of ‘monkey mind’ where we cannot hold a thought and flit from one task to the next. Perhaps, in Spokane or Edmonton, I call the same concept ‘squirrel mind’. When I hold my thoughts in this moment, attend to them one at a time, the reward is real. When I flit from place to place, I might finish the task at hand but it seems a more hollow victory.

Locked into imaginary blocks,

Poised at the start line,

He waited.

The race was engaged,

The cyclist broke the imaginary sensor

They were off.

The rider glanced over,

Suddenly, her opponent veered off course

Defaulted the task at hand.

After all, what is more important to a squirrel>

The promise of food?

Or fleeting fame?

To the winner, no time to celebrate

It is a hollow victory

Won by default.

11 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Synchronicity and tagged Buddhism, creativity, Mindful Practice, monkey mind, poetry, squirrels, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Ask Me

Posted on July 3, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

Last night, I read, more like re-read, the first two chapters of Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer. I find it so interesting to read something for a second, third, or fourth time. I always discover something new in the process. It might only be a word, a sentence, a turn of phrase, but it provides new insight. As I read last night, it was no different. Parker included this poem by William Stafford. I had to read several times, because the words are not in perfect order, but life is not either.

Parker Palmer is on Facebook and I follow him. Today, he posted a July 4th tribute with Leonard Cohen performing Democracy on Youtube. The link is Parker Palmer for those interested.

I am in Spokane and somewhat settled in. As I struggle a bit with making sense of my dissertation topic, this poem makes perfect sense. It is precise and piercing in its questions and somewhat disquieting. In those moments of perturbation, life makes more sense and I learn.

Sometimes when the river is ice ask me

mistakes I have made. Ask me whether

what I have done is my life. Others

have come in their slow way into

my thought, and some have tried to help

or to hurt: ask me what difference their strongest love or hate has made.

I will listen to what you say

You and I can turn and look

at the silent river and wait. We know

is there, hidden; and there

are comings and goings from miles away

that hold the stillness exactly before us.

What the river says, that is what I say.

17 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Synchronicity and tagged Ask Me, creativity, Democracy, facebook, Leonard Cohen, Mindful Practice, poetry, teacher as transformer, William Stafford, Youtube. Bookmark the permalink.

Dirty Face

Posted on May 11, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

I was professionally developed today. I am tired and struggled to find a poem that I wanted to write or post. I perused my library and found this Shel Silverstein poem. I wonder if I had shown up with a dirty face if I could have answered with such wonderful words? And, when I got to the last line, would someone scold me? Oh, do I need to find out? Is it just that teachers just want to have fun?

Where did you get such a dirty face,

My darling dirty-faced child?

I got it from crawling along in the dirt

And biting two buttons off Jeremy’s shirt.

I got it from chewing the roots of a rose

And digging for clams in the yard with my nose.

I got it from peeking into a dark cave

And painting myself like a Navajo brave.

I got it from playing with coal in the bin

And signing my name in cement with my chin.

I got if from rolling around on the rug

And giving the horrible dog a big hug.