Tag Archives: spirituality

Little Gidding V

Posted on February 23, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

As I rested today, I missed the opportunity to be out there exploring. T. S. Eliot eloquently spoke of this. I seek for and find when I explore the cyclical journey we call life. When I open my eyes, my heart, and my mind like a small child I find the apple-tree of my dreams. When I quiet my thoughts I can hear in the stillness between the waves. The gap between the stimulus and response grows in that way.

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half heard, in the stillness
Between the two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always–
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of things shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.

17 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, Little Gidding V, Mindful Practice, nature, poetry, spirituality, T. S. Eliot, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

The Way It Is

Posted on February 21, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

William Stafford wrote this beautiful poem about letting life emerge. There is something that guides each of us. We can call it wisdom, intuition, tradition, or common sense. It is at one level indefinable and, yet very real. Life unfolds for us despite our best plans. Retrospectively, I see the path I walked is different than the one I might have envisioned in my plans. Something helped with each step; that indefinable thread. I am grateful for many of the things I received which I did not plan for.

There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread

14 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged community wisdom, creativity, inner wisdom, Mindful Practice, poetry, spirituality, teacher as transformer, The Way it Is, William Stafford. Bookmark the permalink.

Let Evening Come

Posted on February 16, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

I am at the end of the week. It was good. Silver Birch Press invited me to submit a poem for publication and I sent End of the Week for an upcoming anthology. When I began to write poetry again a few months ago, it filled a creative and reflective void in my life. I did not expect the invitation, so I am grateful for the invitation and acceptance.

Jane Kenyon wrote this beautiful poem about the end of day. I think it speaks to the need for sabbath on a daily basis and at the end of the week. Last week, when I attended a presentation by Dr. Philip McCrae he used the term digital sabbath at one point. As I navigate this emergent digital landscape, I recognize the importance of taking time each day away from the computer. It made a difference this past week. In the silence, I find peace, wisdom, and love in the gap between each moment.

Let the light of late afternoon
shine through chinks in the barn, moving
up the bales as the sun moves down.

Let the cricket take up chafing
as a woman takes up her needles
and her yarn. Let evening come.

Let dew collect on the hoe abandoned
in long grass. Let the stars appear
and the moon disclose her silver horn.

Let the fox go back to its sandy den.
Let the wind die down. Let the shed
go black inside. Let evening come.

To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop
in the oats, to air in the lung
let evening come.

Let it come, as it will, and don’t
be afraid. God does not leave us
comfortless, so let evening come.

32 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath and tagged creativity, End of the Week, Jane Kenyon, Let Evening Come, Mindful Practice, Phil McCrae, poetry, Silver Birch Press, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

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.

A Path for Warriors

Posted on February 9, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

I commented I finished Margaret Wheatley‘s book, So Far From Home. She concluded with a beautiful poem. It reminded how importance quiet and mindful moments are. I was less rushed these last couple of days and it was like a digital sabbath.

Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk, wrote: “The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence. More than that, it is cooperation in violence. The frenzy of the activist…destroys his own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of his own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.”

My mother used to teach us about being Soldiers of Christ. We walk in the “same steps as Christ” (2 Corinthians 12:18, 1 Peter 2:21). We “[pray] always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18), and “open your mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19). Soldiers, in this context, seek peace from within and quiet the mind so their actions and words parallel each other.

We are grateful to discover our right work and happy to be engaged in it.

We embody values and practices that offer us meaningful lives now.

We let go of needing to impact the future.

We refrain from adding to the aggression, fear and confusion of this time.

We welcome every opportunity to practice our skills of compassion and insight, even very challenging ones.

We resist seeking the illusory comfort of certainty and stability.

We delight when our work achieves good results yet let go of needing others to adopt our successes.

We know that all problems have complex causes. We do not place blame on any one person or cause, including ourselves and colleagues.

We are vigilant with our relationships, mindful to counteract the polarizing dynamics of this time.

Our actions embody our confidence that humans can get through anything as long as we’re together.

We stay present to the world as it is with open minds and hearts, knowing this nourishes our gentleness, decency and bravery.

We care for ourselves as tenderly as we care for others, taking time for rest, reflection and renewal.

We are richly blessed with moments of delight, humor, grace and joy.

We are grateful for these.

39 Comments

Posted in Leadership, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath and tagged human-rights, inner wisdom, leadership, Margaret Wheatley, Mindful Practice, poetry, sabbath, So Far From Home, soldiers of christ, spirituality, teacher as transformer, Thomas Merton. 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.

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.

Messenger

Posted on January 29, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

Today, I scooped an article entitled “Why Questions Are More Important Than Answers.” I added a short piece: “Questions keep us moving. Answers end conversations and their messages.”

Being present and mindful exposes the extraordinary on life’s canvas. I ask only to be astonished with eloquent questions which I am unable to answer, because the next question reveals itself playfully in front of me; again to go unanswered.

I love Mary Oliver‘s poetry and this poem resonated today.

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird —
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.