Tag Archives: love

Ode to Joy~ —

Posted on March 30, 2021 by ivonprefontaine

Signs of spring. A jolt of joy! Blossoms cheer, weary hearts. Ode to Joy, hope and faith. Cheers to you and Happy Spring~
Ode to Joy~ —

I am back. I took a sabbatical of sorts from the blog, as I only checked in on comments and to follow up through the reader. It has been a busy time supervising student teachers, attending online events, presenting at online events, writing, getting published, and life in general. I am unsure how active I will be. I hope to be posting 2-3 times a week and maybe write some new poetry.

I return with a share from Cindy who takes wonderful pictures of nature close to home in the Holler and further afield. The images remind me we are entering the time of the year where life comes alive after its dormant period, Yes, things do remain in a state of flux with weather. Despite the uncertainty, it is a time to rejoice and search out the joy and beauty located wherever we look in nature.

Cindy shared a video of musicians playing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony as a virtual ensemble. Artists of all forms find ways to lead us in the most challenging times and COVID-19 is no exception. I am grateful we have wonderful artists who take the lead in meaningful ways.

It has been hard this past year for each of us with less social interaction. An emerging area of interest for me is the role virtual communities can and will play in our lives moving forward. It is what I presesnted on this past weekend and am fleshing out an article for submission. People surprised me with their response to what I talked about. I see hope and joy in sharing online. It brings me together, often with people I have not met and likely will never meet.

Common is the root word of community, communicate, and communion. What do we have in common that brings us together, besides our grievances and grief? In short, what gives each of us joy? How do we experience communicating what we receive from others and share with others? How has listening to others changed in this brave new world? Communion goes beyond the religious concept, speaking to a level of intimacy. How do we reveal who we are in a virtual world? Virtual and virtue share etymological roots, speaking to our character in these communities.

I leave you with a video from Mavis Staples. How do we get it together and bring joy into our lives as a collective and community?

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Posted in Blogging, Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, music, Photography, Reflective Moments, Sabbath, servant-leadership, Social Justice, teacher as transformer, Videos, Writing and tagged artists, beauty, Beethoven, beloved community, common, communicate, communion, community, Covid-19, flowers, Hope, joy, leadership, love, Mavis Staples, nature, servant-leadership, spring, video, virtual communities. Bookmark the permalink.

Being Alive

Posted on November 3, 2020 by ivonprefontaine

I originally wrote this on Bowen Island, attending an Art of Hosting retreat. It reminded me of the counter cultural nature of Parker Palmer’s writing and events focused on his work. It is about communicating and seeing others as fully human.

In today’s divided world, this seems countercultural. An essential element to hosting and dialogue is listening to others in respectful ways. It does not mean we agree with them. What it means is we are open and listen to hear how they experience living their life, guided by one’s conscience and sense of values that ground us. Values give each of us strength, anchoring us and letting us understand what is proper and improper.

When we invite people into conversation, listen deeply, and ask questions which shake our certainty about the world we turn inward and focus on what grounds us to respond to them and help heal a hurting world.

Perching pensively–

Holding pen tentatively;

Senses coming,

In the midst of nature’s beauty.

Awakening–

Becoming aware;

Listening deeply;

In the midst of sounds flowing.

Breeze caressing gently–

Sunlight bathing softly;

Basking in these moments,

Resting in peace.

A colleague took this picture of me on top of Cates Hill on Bowen Island as I wrote and they were gracious enough to share it with me. It is spectacular with water and land in the panoramic view.

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Posted in Blogging, Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Poetry, Reflective Moments, servant-leadership, Social Justice, teacher as transformer, Writing and tagged Art of Hosting, beloved community, Bowen Island, community, conversation circle, Dialogue, differences make a difference, love, loving kindness, Parker Palmer, poetry, social justice, writing, writing poetry. Bookmark the permalink.

John Prine

Posted on April 8, 2020 by ivonprefontaine

This was not going to be my next post. Fate steps in and calls on me to share one of the wonderful performers we had a chance to see live. John Prine is as as close as I am to someone contracting Covid-19 and, sadly he passed away last night due to complications. He had underlying health issues as he was a cancer survivor and was 73. The beauty is he leaves a rich book of songs and videos. I share three with you.

The last time Kathy and I saw John Prine he sang this song . It is normally a duet he sang with Iris Dement. Last night, we watched Kevin Bacon and Krya Sedgwick do it on Facebook. The audience howled with laughter as Prine sang the female parts. As you listen, you will understand the humour of the moment. It is called In Spite of Ourselves and is about a couple whose love is unquestionable and they are each other’s big door prize.

These links will take you to many others John Prine did, if you are inclined. He wrote and performed for 40 years and tackled social issues and love in various forms with humour and fearlessness. He is likely entertaining someone in the great beyond.

I played Paradise for students and it has a strong environmental message that echoes mine and I think Wendell Berry about what is lost as faceless corporations tear up Earth, haul it away in big trucks, and label it the progress of man. In Alberta, regulatory processes include land reclamation leaving it as good as it originally was . It reminds me ecology and economy are from the Greek oikos, meaning household.

I leave you with the Missing Years of Jesus, which was the first song I heard of John Prine. It is a tongue-in-cheek look at what we think we know about Jesus, a person we actually know little about in a historical sense.

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Posted in Blogging, Humour, Mindful Life, music, Nature in All Its Glory, Reflective Moments, Social Justice, Writing and tagged coronavirus, Covid-19, ecology, economy, environment, folk music, humor, John Prine, love, music, relationships, video, Wendell Berry. Bookmark the permalink.

Bodhisattva Prayer for Humanity

Posted on March 23, 2020 by ivonprefontaine

In my post one step, then another, I concluded with The Prayer of St. Francis, which is a significant part of my life and of my family.

Recently, I came across this prayer and understand the Dalai Lama recites it daily. I found several links between the two prayers. I serve as a guide, bridge between the our lives and those in need. There are many metaphors in this prayer for me to take the shape of as I move through the world. Even if I cannot reach others physically, perhaps I can be a lamp from a distance as to help guide them in a moment of darkness.

Perhaps it is only in a kind word and acknowledging of the other who is present as we pass each other in a store. Kindness can be in short supply and in moments such as the one we are presently in a smile and greeting may make all the difference.

As I watched the news last night, they interviewed people who were setting up local help initiatives for seniors, donating food that might go to waste from a restaurant, and setting up a small food bank on the walk in front of their house. It is in moments such as this we become a lamp in darkness, a vase of plenty, and a tree of miracles.

Too often, we think (over-think) that miracles happen out there with some divine impulse. Maybe it is in the ordinary we discover the extraordinary.

“May I be a guard for those who need protection
A guide for those on the path
A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood
May I be a lamp in the darkness
A resting place for the weary
A healing medicine for all who are sick
A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles
And for the boundless multitudes of living beings
May I bring sustenance and awakening
Enduring like the earth and sky
Until all beings are freed from sorrow
And all are awakened.”

The other day, I heard Lean on Me by Bill Withers. It has this prayer’s message. Withers wrote the song as a call to others to lean on one another during challenging times. This form of love is agape, a love of one another as human beings, as opposed to a romantic love per se. But, romantic love that survives to become a pragmatic love (from the Greek pragma) takes on the agape more than romantic with time and seasoning.

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Posted in Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, music, Reflective Moments, Social Justice, Uncategorized, Videos, Writing and tagged agape, Bill Withers, blogging, Buddhism, Dalai Lama, family, kindness, Lean on Me, life, love, loving kindness, poetry, pragma, prayer, relationships, writing. Bookmark the permalink.

Please drink of me, my love

Posted on December 4, 2019 by ivonprefontaine

via Please drink of me, my love

John provided a wonderful post. He often writes poetry and includes images, but this time he was prosaic. His most common theme is love and he was true to that in his post. The link above includes a video.

Along with images, John embedded a video of one of my favourite performers, Leonard Cohen. Cohen’s songs are poems put to music. This link includes a video from Cohen’s recently released posthumous CD.

I have listened to his music and read his poetry for 40 years. The song John posted, Dance Me to the End of Love, is my favourite Cohen song. I am unsure of its underlying, but I think of it as an ode to perfect love that continues like a great dance. Love of this kind does not die. Instead it lives on and is remembered by those who witnessed it.

Thich Nhat Hanh speaks about how our ancestors are always present. I think, with a perfect love, people remember it in the stories and people who were part of that love.

Here is the URL for the Leonard Cohen song Sisters of Mercy. He was well known for writing songs about what he experienced. People interpreted this song as being about prostitutes, but Cohen said the idea came to him as he sat in a hotel room in Edmonton watching nuns come and go from a convent. He took some poetic licence in writing the lyrics.

Posted in Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, music, Photography, teacher as transformer, Uncategorized, Videos, Writing and tagged blogging, Buddhism, Dance me to the end of love, John Coyote, Leonard Cohen, life, love, music, relationships, Sisters of Mercy, Thich Nhat Hanh. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments

…the little bit of love that I sow now will bear fruits…

Posted on August 29, 2019 by ivonprefontaine

via …the little bit of love that I sow now will bear fruits…

Purple Rays shared a beautiful quote from Henri Nouwen, a Catholic priest who spent his early career as an academic and shifted to L’Arche as a caregiver for disabled adults.

I recently read In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. He wrote not about leadership writ large, but about his leadership during his early years at L’Arche and how much he learned from those he was to give care.

Transitioning from one role to another is always challenging. Nouwen provides insight into the challenges how he shifted away from leadership focused on being “relevant, popular, and powerful” to leadership more aligned with servant and love for others as a shepherd caring for each member of a flock.

How do I serve others? This is an essential question in my life as I transition from teaching in a classroom and to something new and, as yet, undefined. Perhaps, more importantly, it will always remain, at best, ill-defined.

Perhaps, like the mountain, each striation will serve to help me author new stories and embrace the very mystery of the future, based on history and traditions that help me serve and be minful of the needs of others.

Posted in 21st Century Education, Blogging, Community, Education, Leadership, Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Reflective Moments, Social Justice, teacher as transformer, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged blogging, Henri Nouwen, L'Arche, life, love, mindfulness, Purple Rays, relationships, school, vocation. Bookmark the permalink. 12 Comments

Relative Sanity, Walls and Thomas Merton

Posted on January 21, 2019 by ivonprefontaine

via Relative Sanity, Walls and Thomas Merton

Bruce shared insights into how community is formed. He did this through the words of Thomas Merton.

I loved the first two words of the title of this post: relative sanity. Parker Palmer reminds me to be in relationship with others and the world I live in is always relative, but not relative where amoral is the norm.

It is relative based as it binds through common humanity we share with each other. We are related to and relate to each other. Cornel West suggests we are brothers and sisters in a genealogical line going back to times we do not remember, yet provides memory.

Thomas Merton suggests when we fall in love, we are vulnerable and risk being hurt. Living in community comes with vulnerability and risk, as well.

I took this picture several years ago and the waterfalls remind me of how the river has a memory of where it came from and. at the same time, it carves a new path forward. In carving its new path, it does so in concert with the rest of the world it flows through.

Posted in Blogging, Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Reflective Moments, Sabbath, Social Justice, teacher as transformer, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged blogging, Bruce Witzel, Cornel West, ecology, environment, humans, life, love, Parker Palmer, social justice, Thomas Merton, Through the Luminary Lens. Bookmark the permalink. 9 Comments

Trusting Love

Posted on September 14, 2018 by ivonprefontaine

via Trusting Love

This is a wonderful post about love Charmed Chaos

Love is what makes us human, brings us together, and allows each of us to grow. For humans, love is part of who we are and is instinctual. It does not have to be taught, unlike hate and war.

I used an activity, Culture of Peace, and had students describe the difference between a culture of hate and one of peace. We filled whiteboards describing a Culture of Peace and the conversation ended quickly about one of hate. It affirmed my faith in children and the role of love in their lives.

Paulo Coehlo asks and answers how love comes to be in our lives.

How does light enter a house? If the windows are open. How does light enter a human? If the door of love is open.

Posted in Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Social Justice, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged charmed chaos, life, love, Paulo Coehlo, writing. Bookmark the permalink. 17 Comments

Love says, there is a way..

Posted on October 20, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

Source: Love says, there is a way..

Karen‘s post included quote from two of my favourite poets: Hafiz and Rumi. Love is the essential idea behind the quotes.

The second Hafiz quote says fear is the cheapest room in the house. As we lift each other up with our love, we expand the rooms in the house we can each live in. Loving each other is a gift and a serving of each other. It can make people and the world whole again.

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Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Social Justice, teacher as transformer, Uncategorized and tagged community, conversational journey, gift of love, Hafiz, Healing Your Grief, love, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, quotes, Rumi, servant-leadership, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

The Buthidar Hugs

Posted on March 2, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

The Reasons we should hug. When we hug, we receive an energy feedback. We bring life to our senses and reaffirm the trust in our senses. Sometimes we CANNOT find the right words to express how we f…

Source: The Buthidar Hugs

David at Barsetshirediaries sent me to this blog. I enjoyed reading the list. I thought about how I feel when our grandson hugs me. I feel wanted and loved. Hugging is an expression of love and sharing love with one another. When we hug, we have an opportunity to be present to each other.