Tag Archives: Rumi

Clever or Wise?

Posted on September 29, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

I spent two days on a break of sorts. I intended to post something late Saturday afternoon, but spent the day and good portion of the evening being a minion to our 5 month old grandson.

He is getting to the age where he can play games i.e. peek-a-boo and he recalls that he has played the game with you. When I walked into the house on Sunday, he smiled and wanted to play.

Small things and children help us grow and become wise. We want to change our self because it is the best way to change the world we come in contact with. We blend the passion for life with compassion, because without the integration we are incomplete.

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Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath and tagged community, creativity, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, Rumi, sabbath, spirituality, 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.

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

The Wine and the Cup -Rumi

Posted on September 22, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

The Wine and the Cup -Rumi.

Rumi‘s poetry resonates through the centuries. This short verse reminded me that life is the way we are open up to it. What we receive depends on the number and quality of windows allowing light to enter life.

Gadamer referred to the questions we ask, which open up life, as eloquent . We enter questions as though they are living without presupposed answers ready for exploring.

The moonlight shines into our questions and the size of the cup is of our making. The quality of life is the quality of the windows in our life. Do we age like good wine as we mature? Are we mindful to the character of our living?

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

What the Soul Needs Now

Posted on September 12, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

What the Soul Needs Now.

Rumi‘s poetry shines down through the centuries and provides insight in troubled times. When we are unsure and do not seem to hear the small voice inside of us, find an even deeper stillness and listen more closely. The voice is still there, being drowned out by distractions.

It is in the quiet and stillness we find the courage deep in our hearts and souls. When we do, we speak and act in right ways.

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

The Guest House

Posted on July 12, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Rumi wrote this beautiful poem 800 years ago. The message rings true today although we might resist it at times. Perhaps, in busyness and haste, we avoid the messages received in the guest house that our being and becoming entails. When we slow down encountering each guest as a transient event moving on, we learn lessons learned readily and easily.

In sabbath moments, whether a few minutes, hours, or days, we welcome these unexpected visitors. We recognize they will leave and, in treating them honourably, they may move along quickly allowing delight to return.

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

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Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath and tagged creativity, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, Rumi, sabbath, spirituality, teacher as transformer, The Guest House. Bookmark the permalink.

The Guest House

Posted on May 9, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Several years ago during a difficult time, I read this poem and it spoke to what I was going through. From time to time, I recall the poem and how it helped me meet life differently. I compartmentalized life, including my emotions, in unhealthy ways. Emotions and accompanying experiences are guests coming and going and not staying for life.

I treated life as different buckets containing each part as if I could easily separate them. Rumi reminded me life is holistic and involves life flowing with no clear boundaries between parts. It is all oneness.

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

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Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, Rumi, spirituality, teacher as transformer, The Guest House. Bookmark the permalink.

What Was Told, That

Posted on April 30, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Rumi wrote poetry 900 years ago and it still resonates in the 21st Century. We see the world change and live in its busyness trying to keep pace with the change. It is hard to turn inwards, see the beauty that exists within, and acknowledging its importance in helping us keep pace.

Regardless of faith and even when we do not have it, there still exists a source deep within each of us that when we touch it and let it speak to us is able to guide us in wonderful and amazing ways. I found the peaceful drive today in the lee of the Rocky Mountains inspirational and something that I share with the world and with each person in the world.

What was said to the rose that made it open was said

to me here in my chest.

What was told the cypress that made it strong

and straight, what was

whispered the jasmine so it is what it is, whatever made

sugarcane sweet, whatever

was said to the inhabitants of the town of Chigil in

Turkestan that makes them

so handsome, whatever lets the pomegranate flower blush

like a human face, that is

being said to me now. I blush. Whatever put eloquence in

language, that’s happening here.

The great warehouse doors open; I fill with gratitude,

chewing a piece of sugarcane,

in love with the one to whom every that belongs!

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Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, nature, poetry, Rumi, teacher as transformer, What Was Told That. Bookmark the permalink.

Be with those Who Help your Being

Posted on February 18, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Rumi, the Sufi poet, wrote this poem several centuries ago, but it resonates today strongly. In the fast-paced world, it seems easier to calculate and do, rather than mediate, pray, and be. The latter takes time, patience, and caring. Once the calculation is done, quite often the business is done. When we enter into the space where we listen deeply to our self and others, there is no business to do. It is just being in relationship, first with the person who is me and with the other who has listened with care.

Be with those who help your being.
Don’t sit with indifferent people, whose breath
comes cold out of their mouths.
Not these visible forms, your work is deeper.

A chunk of dirt thrown in the air breaks to pieces.
If you don’t try to fly,
and so break yourself apart,
you will be broken open by death,
when it’s too late for all you could become.

Leaves get yellow. The tree puts out fresh roots
and makes them green.
Why are you so content with a love that turns you yellow?

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Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged Be with those Who Help your Being, creativity, leadership, Mindful Practice, poetry, Rumi, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Sweet is the Oneness

Posted on January 19, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

I just finished writing the first draft of a short paper on complexity and the teacher’s practice. Much of this is not new. A classroom has the potential to become a community. It is about the needs of each student within a classroom and their personal lived histories. Around that community has the potential to emerge. I cannot plan for it. I can wish for it. Community grows out of the livingness of our lives when we linger on bridges that link us and we while away time in those moments. This is different then when someone chooses a team with a specific goal in mind.

Those are not my thoughts. I added to the thinking of Hans-Georg Gadamer, Max van Manen, David Jardine, and Ted Aoki. I found complexity is something we have talked about throughout history, yet we it treat like it is new. I looked for a poem that fit my writing. The first poet that appeared was Rumi and he led me to this beautiful poem about the oneness of community.

If ten lamps are in one place,

each differs in form from another;

yet you can’t distinguish whose radiance is whose when you focus on the light.

In the field of spirit there is no division; no individuals exist.

Sweet is the oneness of the Friend with His friends.

Catch hold of spirit.

Help this headstrong self disintegrate;

that beneath it you may discover unity,

like a buried treasure.

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Posted in Community, Education, Learning Organizations, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath and tagged community, creativity, David Jardine, education, Hans-Georg Gadamer, leadership, Max van Manen, Mindful Practice, poetry, Rumi, servant-leadership, Sweet is the Oneness, teacher as transformer, Ted Aoki. Bookmark the permalink.

Two Kinds of Intelligence

Posted on December 27, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

We enjoyed a restful Christmas. We head out tomorrow night for a trip to British Columbia where my 88-year old mother lives. Over the past few days, I thought about what I hold true and came across this Rumi poem. I will be working more on the literature review for my dissertation and I need to assure myself that I distinguish between two types of intelligences: one that grounds me and one that is simply the currency of the day.

There are two kinds of intelligence: one acquired,

as a child in school memorizes facts and concepts

from books and from what the teacher says,

collecting information from the traditional sciences

as well as from the new sciences.

With such intelligence you rise in the world.

You get ranked ahead or behind others

in regard to your competence in retaining

information. You stroll with this intelligence

in and out of fields of knowledge, getting always more

marks on your preserving tablets.

There is another kind of tablet, one