Tag Archives: creativity

Silence

Posted on February 14, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

I posted the wonderful poem Daybreak last night and I was reminded of the need for silence as I wrote. Community members added a rich tapestry about the need for silence and the role it plays in life.

It was pretty quiet today and I felt at peace with where I am at and who I am today. I realized I have not written poetry nearly as much recently and found myself drawn to the words I used last night in the preamble.

Silence–

A beautiful place,

Just being,

Hear like never before.

Cradled in gentle spaciousness;

Watered, nourished–

Rest in silence’s glow,

The moment embraces.

Pause–

Breathe–

Listen–

Stillness welcomes.

Refreshed–

I rise,

I grow,

I create.

14 Comments

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

Daybreak

Posted on February 13, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

Silence is a beautiful place to be. I grow in that space and feel the energy renew me. I can stop and listen to what my heart says. Silence, in that way, is the vital pause in life. It is the pause that refreshes to use a line from popular culture. I find humility in my silence because I take time, listen to my self, and listen to the other.

I found this beautiful poem from Nobel Laureate Gabriela Mistral. She was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

My heart swells that the
universe
like a fiery cascade may
enter.
The new day comes. Its coming
leaves me breathless.
I sing like a cavern
brimming
I sing a new day.

For grace lost and recovered
I stand humble. Not giving.
Receiving.
Until the gorgon night,
vanquished, flees.

25 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, Daybreak, education, Gabriela Mistral, Mindful Practice, poetry, silence and solitude, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Human Hearts and Spirits

Posted on February 9, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

I had another great day at Teacher’s Convention. Made another contact for my dissertation process. It is quite interesting the willingness of people to help.

~~Harry~~ Russ who provides the blog wrote this beautiful poem. I finished reading Margaret Wheatley‘s book, So Far From Home. She referred several times to human hearts and their capacity for love and kindness. Parker Palmer, in his book Healing the Heart of Democracy, referred to the heart being able to hold so much. ~~Harry’s~~ Russ’ poem reminded me of their writing and I think he is on to something: the heart and the spirit combined have incredible capacity.

“Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the human heart can hold.” Zelda Fitzgerald

…But if I might be so bold
While I don’t know the exact amount
From what I have found
I believe
The human spirit
Can store
Even more

12 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, Human Hearts and Spirits, Margaret Wheatley, Mindful Practice, Parker Palmer, Poet's Corner, poetry, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Tao Te Ching #33

Posted on February 7, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

I was busy today and am off to a dinner meeting momentarily. I took a deep breath and remembered to breathe. I attended Teacher’s Convention which is unique to Alberta, for the most part. The Alberta Teacher’s Association, our professional organization/union, organizes several each year depending on geographic locations. There is a large exhibit hall and many presentations. I find it challenging as it is busy, crowded, and noisy, but there was a great presentation and another good one. The first presenter spoke on a topic similar to what I am massaging for a dissertation topic and, when I approached her, she graciously agreed to share more of her thoughts and I will contact her. She was genuinely interested and I am pretty jacked.

I also found a nice little restaurant. It wasn’t lost, but I had never been there before and it was a nice place. I finished the book I am reading while I ate lunch. I could have focused on the challenges–noise, crowds, and busyness–instead I pulled three great things out of the day and feel energized. I found this beautiful little poem by Lao Tzu and it resonated. When we turn in and find the extraordinary of the ordinary that is true power.

Knowing others is wisdom;
Knowing the self is enlightment.
Mastering others requires force;
Mastering the self needs strength.

He who knows he has enough is rich.
Perseverance is a sign of will power.
He who stays where he is endures.
To die but not to perish is to be eternally present.

25 Comments

Posted in Leadership, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, Mindful Practice, servant-leadership, spirituality, Tao Te Ching, Tao Tzu, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Compassion

Posted on February 5, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

Thich Nhat Hanh provided this beautiful quote about compassion and embracing who we are in this world. I need to be inside of someone else`s skin to build compassion.

The essence of love and compassion is understanding, the ability to recognize the physical, material, and psychological suffering of others, to put ourselves “inside the skin” of the other. We “go inside” their body, feelings, and mental formations, and witness for ourselves their suffering. Shallow observation as an outsider is not enough to see their suffering. We must become one with the subject of our observation. When we are in contact with another’s suffering, a feeling of compassion is born in us. Compassion means, literally, “to suffer with.”

20 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Writing and tagged community, compassion, creativity, Mindful Practice, servant-leadership, spirituality, teacher as transformer, Thich Nhat Hanh, writing. Bookmark the permalink.

Imperfection

Posted on February 5, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

I re-blogged an Elisabeth Kubler-Ross quote this morning about resiliency. I am not always comfortable with new things or taking risks, yet I took huge risks in my adult life. I went back to university as a married adult with a family and, to some extent, we reversed roles for several years in our family. Kathy was the primary bread-winner. We sacrificed things others around us took for granted, but in the long run we ended up where we wanted to be, here.

I learned on this journey called life that bumps on the road are more worthwhile than perfectly planned and executed outcomes, if those happen. I found, the past few years, as hard as I wished for things to be a certain way did not make them that way. I hope it makes me a better person learning that things do not work out perfectly and that is part of the joy of life.

Elizabeth Carlson wrote this beautiful poem about falling in love with my imperfections. I am more complete with them.

I am falling in love
with my imperfections
The way I never get the sink really clean,
forget to check my oil,
lose my car in parking lots,
miss appointments I have written down,
am just a little late.

I am learning to love
the small bumps on my face
the big bump of my nose,
my hairless scalp,
chipped nail polish,
toes that overlap.
Learning to love
the open-ended mystery
of not knowing why

I am learning to fail
to make lists,
use my time wisely,
read the books I should.

Instead I practice inconsistency,
irrationality, forgetfulness.

Probably I should
hang my clothes neatly in the closet
all the shirts together, then the pants,
send Christmas cards, or better yet
a letter telling of
my perfect family.

But I’d rather waste time
listening to the rain,
or lying underneath my cat
learning to purr.

I used to fill every moment
with something I could
cross off later.

Perfect was
the laundry done and folded
all my papers graded
the whole truth and nothing but

Now the empty mind is what I seek
the formless shape
the strange off center
sometimes fictional
me.

54 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Elizabeth Carlson, Imperfections, life-long learning, Mindful Practice, poetry, resilency, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

A Dream of Warriors

Posted on February 3, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

I enjoy reading Thich Nhat Hanh. Presently, I am reading Margaret Wheatley’s new book: So Far From Home. Margaret Wheatley brought shared this by the Zen monk. The poem and book are gentle reminders to pause, reorient ourselves in the present, and find strength and courage to continue the journey. It does not end.

The road goes on and we only walk one step at a time, one moment at a time, and each step moves us into an unknown future. It is good to rest and make each step mindful. We live in the present moment, find courage, and discover strength to carry on. It is in this moment, this space, we are at home, because when we are mindful we can nowhere else.

“They were exhausted. They had been traveling longer than they could remember. Their journey had begun with energy and enthusiasm, but that too they could no longer recall. They had lost many companions along the way—some had turned back, some had refused to go on, some had died of weariness. They all had suffered greatly.

They came to a narrow bridge that spanned a great river running swift and fast. On the far shore they could see what they had dreamed of during all these years of hardship—gentle green valleys and peaceful lakes reflecting clear blue sky. They stood there astonished to realize that what they had struggled so long for was suddenly here.

They began walking across the bridge with joyful steps. Midway across, they were stopped by children who had come to meet them. Tears overcame them for their own children left behind long ago. The children began to speak: “You cannot enter our land. You must go back. You will need to repeat your struggles. You must go back and do it all again.

The warriors stood there quietly. They gazed longingly at the pleasant pastures. They beheld the bright faces of the children. Tenderly, they bent down and kissed their cheeks. Then they stood up and spoke: “We are not afraid.” And they went back to begin again their journey.”

10 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Reflective Moments, Sabbath, Writing and tagged A Dream of Warriors, creativity, Margaret Wheatley, Mindful Practice, poetry, servant-leadership, So Far From Home, spirituality, stewardship, teacher as transformer, Thich Nhat Hanh, writing. Bookmark the permalink.

Working Together

Posted on February 2, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

I read and heard about innovation several times over the the past few days. I was professionally developed yesterday and it came up again. The person indicated innovation is half-formed ideas bumping up against each other as we share them. I wondered about that, because it suggests we work together, collaborate, and recognize the interdependent nature of humans and the world they live in together. I rarely see this and I doubt a bureaucratic mindset is one that embraces those features of innovation. I read recently, and I apologize about a lack of reference, that it is not enough to show up. We need to do something when we get there. David Whyte summarized this beautifully in the following poem.

We shape our self
to fit this world

and by the world
are shaped again.

The visible
and the invisible

working together
in common cause,

to produce
the miraculous.

I am thinking of the way
the intangible air

passed at speed
round a shaped wing

easily
holds our weight.

So may we, in this life
trust

to those elements
we have yet to see

or imagine,
and look for the true

shape of our own self
by forming it well

to the great
intangibles about us.

25 Comments

Posted in Community, Education, Leadership, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged community, creativity, David Whyte, education, innovation, leadership, Mindful Practice, poetry, school, teacher as transformer, Working Together. Bookmark the permalink.

Limericks

Posted on January 31, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

I started on the academic work last night. I was productive as I tracked down some books that I have in my library and added to the library with a book order.

Yesterday, we began our poetry unit at school. I enjoy it and I think, for the most part, the students do as well. They grumble a bit, but, when they start writing they are laughing. We wrote limericks. I wander around the room, talk my way through limericks, and write one or two down on the board. It is mostly off the top of my head and they are fairly rough, but the students get a charge out of it and realize not to take it too seriously. I wrote these two on the board and decided to share.

There once was a boy named Earl

He wanted so desperately to be a squirrel.

Allergic to nuts, his dreams were dashed.

Distressed he wailed and his teeth he gnashed

That young fellow named Earl.

There once was a boy who loved basketball

Three-pointers were his downfall.

He went to shooting school

There he did rule

Today, he has fame and is in the Hall.

14 Comments

Posted in Education, Humour, Lesson Plans, Poetry and tagged creativity, education, learning, Limericks, poetry, school, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Accepting This

Posted on January 26, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

When Kathy and I decided I would teach one more year, I wanted to make it the best year possible. I tired last year, was in physical pain, and it was difficult to be there for students as I wanted. I examined my life as Socrates suggested. I realized I focused on things I had little or no control over which is unlike me. I knew I wanted this year to be different and I worked hard the first 1/2 of the year in that respect. I remind myself I can only do what I am capable of doing. I stopped planning and organizing that which is not plannable or organizable and take a breath now and then. I choose to accept my life as it unfolds and as I author it in this moment. I owe this to the students and their families who support them and me.

Mark Nepo reminded me today of this as I read this beautiful poem.

Yes, it is true. I confess,
I have thought great thoughts,
and sung great songs—all of it
rehearsal for the majesty
of being held.

The dream is awakened
when thinking I love you
and life begins
when saying I love you
and joy moves like blood
when embracing others with love.

My efforts now turn
from trying to outrun suffering
to accepting love wherever
I can find it.

Stripped of causes and plans
and things to strive for,
I have discovered everything
I could need or ask for
is right here—
in flawed abundance.

We cannot eliminate hunger,
but we can feed each other.
We cannot eliminate loneliness,
but we can hold each other.
We cannot eliminate pain,
but we can live a life
of compassion.

Ultimately,
we are small living things
awakened in the stream,
not gods who carve out rivers.

Like human fish,
we are asked to experience
meaning in the life that moves
through the gill of our heart.

There is nothing to do
and nowhere to go.
Accepting this,
we can do everything
and go anywhere.