Tag Archives: conversational journey

Wisdom

Posted on November 24, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Dr. Seuss’, Theodore Geisel, books explained abstract concepts fairness, being honest, and accepting differences for children and parents. The irony was for most of his writing career he had no children of his own. It was only when he married a second time that he had two step-daughters.

Whether he intended to or not, Seuss was a social justice teacher. He introduced children and their parents with his writing to unforgettable characters who demonstrated what we could learn on Mulberry Street.

His unforgettable lyrical prose imprinted itself on children in ways they were recalled and, even if misspoken, it made little difference. After all, the words were often made up by Dr. Seuss. Perhaps, we find wisdom in our imaginations? Imagine a world where we treated each other with respect and dignity.

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Posted in Community, Education, Leadership, Reflective Moments, Social Justice and tagged community, conversational journey, creativity, Dr. Seuss, education, eloquent questions, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, spirituality, teacher as transformer, Theorore Geisel. Bookmark the permalink.

“Nature Has No Need Of Fortune”

Posted on November 22, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

“Nature Has No Need Of Fortune”.

The article linked has a wonderful and lengthy quote from Michel de Montaigne about character. Character is an aesthetic masterpiece words and deeds are expressing. It is reflected in and through living. We are painting a picture, writing a story, and becoming someone without knowing the next brush stroke, the next letter, and the next step fully.

When I looked at the accompanying image, I was struck by the space in the foreground and how the background was more cluttered. We move in the spaces provided in the immediacy of the moment without knowing for sure what is revealed. When we look further afield, we realize how the past is cluttered and the future uncertain.

It takes confidence to step into the unknown. Although the next step appears spacious, what will appear is not certain despite our best plans, our material resources, and our victories.

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Posted in Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Uncategorized and tagged character, conversational journey, creativity, de Montaigne, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, photography, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Day of the Imprisoned Writer: a letter to Mahvash Sabet

Posted on November 19, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Day of the Imprisoned Writer: a letter to Mahvash Sabet.

We have many people around the world who are imprisoned for their political and religious beliefs. Usually, I find when we put a face on those that are somehow different they become real and human. It is important to reach out and take the hand of those who suffer persecution at the hands of others regardless of the reasons. It is important to make people real and human.

When I did my undergraduate work, I was able to take one special education course. In the course, a point that was made several times and stuck with me was that we are more alike despite obvious differences than we are different. It is overwhelmingly so.

Do we need science to tell us the obvious? Or, can we see the humanity that lies beneath the differences we want to see?

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quotation: Don’t put money before everything else -Pope Francis

Posted on November 15, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

quotation: Don’t put money before everything else -Pope Francis.

In the West, this is a hard concept to understand and grasp. We need money to live and perhaps even survive. What about when money becomes our raison d’etre? What happens when money takes over our lives and, for that matter, we obsess over one thing at the expense of living?

This is an open question we should live with, embrace, and explore daily. How does our living make the living of others better? There are no easy answers. In fact, there may not be an answer. Each time we explore this question, it may pose new questions.

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Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Reflective Moments, Sabbath and tagged community, conversational journey, creativity, eloquent questions, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, money, Pope Francis, spirituality, stewardship, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Your Sunrise

Posted on November 10, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Your Sunrise.

Rumi speaks about paradox in the quote introducing the poem. We often think of entrances as being an external portal but, when we seek sanctuary, we turn in looking for the entrance to that sanctuary. The entrance is inside us leading further inside.

As the poem suggests, to be human is to be sacred. It is the coming together of two worlds, one outside and one inside. The inner one is much harder to reach as we try opening the door the wrong way quite often. We push out rather than turning in and pulling gently revealing light from the inner sanctuary that shines on us as we sit quietly waiting for silence to speak.

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Sometimes

Posted on October 25, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

It is the end of a busy week. It might be the busiest since I came home from Spokane. I don’t coach ice hockey any more, but I help in several ways. For example, I am helping a young man who coached with me several years ago get a hockey related business off the ground. I also facilitate coaching clinics which help coaches with their work. In Canada, this is a time of the year when hockey is busy. It is important to take a break, a Sabbath from the busyness and business.

I came across this poem by Hermann Hesse who is better known as an author of fiction such as Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Journey to the East. He was a wonderful writer of prose writing in a poetic and mystic voice.

The poem reminds me to stop and pause, to listen attentively to the world and my self. It is in the mindfulness that I hear the questions being asked by the world and me. It is in those silences that the world and I create together speaking to each other in richness in our silences.

Sometimes, when a bird cries out,
Or the wind sweeps through a tree,
Or a dog howls in a far off farm,
I hold still and listen a long time.

My soul turns and goes back to the place
Where, a thousand forgotten years ago,
The bird and the blowing wind
Were like me, and were my brothers.

My soul turns into a tree,
And an animal, and a cloud bank.
Then changed and odd it comes home
And asks me questions. What should I reply?

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Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath and tagged community, conversational journey, creativity, Hermann Hesse, ice hockey, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Inspiration Point

Posted on October 2, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Inspiration Point.

We carry umbrellas to protect us from the rain. Rain can feel soothing on the body. It cools and warms. We walk in it to gain fresh perspective on life. We splash in the puddles to recall childhood.

Walking in the rain is walking through life which the link suggests in a wonderful way. We are having a conversation as we walk in the rain listening for what life has to say. When we are mindful, we hear the wisdom in rain drops. We are living into the questions that life is.

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

Be a Player, not a Victim

Posted on October 1, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Be a Player, not a Victim.

We use the words responsibility and accountability interchangeably, as if they mean the same thing. Certainly, the two words are connected in ways, but providing a response and being responsible are internal emerging from the person. Acc0untability is external. Someone else makes a judgement about our words and actions.

Accountability also connects as we give an account of our self. We describe who we are in giving this account. We take responsibility for who we are, what we say, and what we do. We take responsibility for how we are living in both telling and living our personal story.

Accountability suggests someone is more expert than we are in living our lives. It also suggests that there is a certainty about this expertise.

Machado wrote “Wanderer, your footsteps are the road, and nothing more; wanderer there is not road, the road is made by walking.” We accept responsibility for walking the road one step at a time in the company of others.

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Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged Antonio Machado, community, conversational journey, creativity, mindfulness, poetry, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Travel Theme: Inviting

Posted on September 27, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Travel Theme: Inviting.

Some of the reading I have done for my dissertation has focused on the idea that teaching is an invitation into learning. I recall cold Alberta days when I would take out books and read. I never left the warm confines of the house, yet I traveled the world.

Teaching and learning are invitational. The John Muir quote in Ese’s post is easily reworded. It is not just the mountains calling. It is the world and the universe. Subjects come alive and speak to us when they hold meaning.

Teaching cannot guarantee learning. What it can do is provide spaces where learning happens as students find the subjects speaking to them. We, in turn, respond and a life-long conversations are struck up. Living and learning entangle and are inseparable.

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Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged conversational journey, creativity, Educational Leadership, John Muir, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Wordless Wednesday: And You?

Posted on September 25, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Wordless Wednesday: And You?.

Rumi‘s poetry becomes meaningful quotes very easily. It seems in the quotes nothing is lost and much is gained. Perhaps, it is because the quotes often become questions opening up spaces in living that we had not anticipated.

Poetry is an internal journey. It asks questions in ways that even when speaking of the external world we turn inwards and seek the answers. It is in the pauses, much like when we pause in living, that something reveals itself.

Amidst the busyness of life we chase missing what is seeking us. When we pause, what is seeking us finds us and speaks to us. We open ourselves and let go in those pauses. It is in the pauses that we can be fully present to the world and our self.