Tag Archives: teacher as transformer

The Shadow

Posted on February 6, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

Last night, as I posted, the words of a paragraph began to take shape as a poem and Mary Oliver’s words echoed for me.

Today, I took those words and echoes and finished the poem. It has been some time since I wrote a poem. Perhaps, without the urgency of writing a dissertation, this just happened. As well, the break without a need to read and write may have helped and freshened my desire to write differently.

There is no sense of urgency.

Here, I am in the shadow of nature

It uplifts, holding me close.

Nature reminds of less mechanical ways and times;

Of just being and living in the moment.

Pelicans dive bomb the surf in an instinctive search,

Oblivious to me, they bob on the waves.

At night, stars fill darkness and stillness,

They wait to be touched.

Oxen pull a plow across the hardpan soil,

They follow a deep-rooted instinct lost on me

The horse trotts a path, familiar to it

I sway, recalling greater comfort the last time I rode.

I recall days past.

I unsmother moments, days and experiences

My dreams call out to me;

They breathe life into my being.

Here, I sense what it might mean to live and just be.

Without urgency, there is a lightness in my gait.

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Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath, Synchronicity, teacher as transformer, Writing and tagged community, creativity, Mary Oliver, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, nature, poetry, teacher as transformer, The Shadow. Bookmark the permalink.

The Poet Dreams of the Mountain

Posted on February 4, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

Kathy and I were in Cuba for a week. I think I am back on track with the blog. As well, I submitted a draft of my dissertation to the committee and am waiting to hear back from them.

It was nice to go and just be for a few days. Sometimes, we need to just look back and contemplate, without anything other than being present and in the moment. I think that is what Mary Oliver is getting at in this poem. I found that reading, writing, re-reading, and re-writing consumed my days.

For few days, I found there was no urgency. It was peaceful to walk on the beach, watching pelicans dive bomb into the surf. It was inspiring to look up at night and see the heavens filled with stars, only occasionally disrupted by a distant light house beacon. It was enjoyable to be behind an ox and plow for a few minutes. When I rode a horse, I remembered days past. We need to unsmother those moments, those days and experiences so our dreams come back to us and breathe life into our souls.

Sometimes I grow weary of the days, with all their fits and starts.
I want to climb some old gray mountains, slowly, taking
The rest of my lifetime to do it, resting often, sleeping
Under the pines or, above them, on the unclothed rocks.
I want to see how many stars are still in the sky
That we have smothered for years now, a century at least.
I want to look back at everything, forgiving it all,
And peaceful, knowing the last thing there is to know.
All that urgency! Not what the earth is about!
How silent the trees, their poetry being of themselves only.
I want to take slow steps, and think appropriate thoughts.
In ten thousand years, maybe, a piece of the mountain will fall.

34 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath, teacher as transformer, Writing and tagged creativity, Cuba, eloquent questions, Mary Oliver, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, sabbath, teacher as transformer, The Poet Dreams of the Mountain. Bookmark the permalink.

* My Words for 2017

Posted on January 21, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

It will be a time of change. Life is unfolding along an unexpected and uneasy path, with so much outside of our control. When moving into the unknown, it is helpful to sit and pause and listen to o…

Source: * My Words for 2017

Be ready to be fierce.

Be ready to be kind.

Those words sound paradoxical, but to be kind one has to be fierce in our kindness to others. We must want to be kind in the way others have set an example for us.

It is like being radical, which takes us back to our roots. In French, roots is racine and it connected to being radical. If our roots are strong and give us strength to act and speak out against the wrongs others do to the world and people, we can stand and shelter those who need it.

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Posted in Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Reflective Moments, Social Justice, teacher as transformer and tagged community, Mindful Attitude, mindfulness, social justice, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Kahlil Gibran

Posted on January 20, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

In this little treasure of a book I found yesterday, is a quote .. I had not seen this one before from one of Kahlil Gibran’s writings;. You pray in your distress and in your need; would tha…

Source: Kahlil Gibran

This is a wonderful quote from Kahlil Gibran. We should make it a daily practice to pray whether it is in a time of need or not. When we pray, it can be a thankful and mindful practice that acknowledges the good that comes into our lives.

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Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Reflective Moments, teacher as transformer and tagged Khalil Gibran, mindfulness, poetry, prayer, spiritual thinkers, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Our Devotion to Transformation

Posted on December 29, 2016 by ivonprefontaine

In this poem, Alice Walker counselled us to think of life as a transforming event. Parker Palmer referred to the inner and outer movement as similar to a Möbius Strip with one side that is continuous.

We have to pause and be mindful, but it is not like we are separate from the world. We live in it and it lives in us. We act on it as it acts on us.

Living is about going beyond who we are. Trans means to go beyond. We are continuously moving beyond who we are at any given moment. It is inevitable and poetic. Living is poetry. We are always creating someone and something new, despite ourselves.

Poetry is leading us.

It never cares how we will

be held by lovers

or drive fast

or look good in the moment;

we are committed to movement

both inner and outer;

and devoted to transformation

and to change.

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Posted in Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, teacher as transformer and tagged Alice Walker, community, creativity, leadership, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, Mobius Strip, Parker Palmer, poetry, servant-leadership, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2016 by ivonprefontaine

I grew up in Northern Alberta and Christmas was a special time of the year. I recall cold winter nights. I mean they were cold–almost minus 40 at night. Our windows upstairs were partly frosted over and on moonlit nights the light kept me awake or that is what I told others.

During Advent, my mom and older brothers walked across the street for evening Mass. The younger ones, including me, went to bed. I did not fall asleep right away and would watch out the window for them to come home. I thought no one saw me, but my Mom would come up and tell me to go to bed.

The other experience I recall is the Northern Lights and how you could hear them as they lit up the sky. We don’t see them very often in Edmonton with the urban light. When we spent time at the farm at Christmas, we heard and saw them there. Again, on cold nights we heard the train (about a mile away) and it sounded like it was coming right through the house.

I wrote this poem several years ago about the magic provided by the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) and Christmas. What message was in those celestial colours and sounds? As a child, I thought the sky talked to me and told me a creation story.

Small children–

Breathlessly wait,

Peer through frosted window

Soak it in.

Heavens ripple–

Lights undulate;

A celebratory fury

An indisputable guide.

This old house speaks;

Nature answers–

The heavens crackle

Sweet symphonic sounds shimmer.

Earth’s floor–

Blanketed in white

Celestial colours speak to me

Captures young senses.

A vivid winter scene,

A sensual, sensory palette,

Reminds me–

Christ’s Mass is here.

pic_wonder_northern_lights_lg

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Posted in Blogging, Community, Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Poetry, Sabbath, teacher as transformer and tagged Christmas, community, creativity, northern lights, poetry, spirituality, teacher as transformer, writing. Bookmark the permalink.

“The Good Samaritan” by French artist Maximilien Luce (1858-1941)

Posted on December 22, 2016 by ivonprefontaine

Photo post by @georgebost.

Source: “The Good Samaritan” by French artist Maximilien Luce (1858-1941)

I enjoy this parable. It should raise questions about what I do for others and how, when I do right , my life is enriched. It is a spiritual richeness that can make each day Christmas, rather than one day a year.

Several years ago, I heard a sermon that explained how the first two people who passed by may have felt they had to do so based on their understanding of certain laws. The Samaritan did not feel he was and stopped to care for someone in need.

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Posted in Blogging, Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Reflective Moments, Social Justice, Uncategorized and tagged Art, blogging, community, creativity, eloquent questions, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, servant-leadership, teacher as transformer, The Good Samaritan. Bookmark the permalink.

The Angels and the Furies

Posted on December 6, 2016 by ivonprefontaine

May Sarton used the questions about the light and dark sides we each possess, but often go unnoticed. They inhabit our souls, which she calls premier danseur–first dancer. The angels and furies of our personalities are always with us, dancing with each other to gain our attention.

When I read this poem some time ago, I jotted down that to notice the furies sometimes they have to dance furiously to gain our attention. We prefer not to acknowledge their presence, but they are there and real along with our angels.

It is the mindful inner work that helps us understand the paradox of living in a world with both our angels and furies. It is not a choice between them. They exist with each other and both need our time and attention.

Have you not wounded yourself
And battered those you love
By sudden motions of evil,
Black rage in the blood
When the soul, premier danseur,
Springs toward a murderous fall?
The furies possess you.

Have you not surprised yourself
Sometimes by sudden motions
Or intimations of goodness,
When the soul, premier danseur,
Perfectly poised,
Could shower blessings
With a graceful turn of the head?
The angels are there.

The angels, the furies
Are never far away
While we dance, we dance,
Trying to keep a balance
To be perfectly human
(Not perfect, never perfect,
Never an end to growth and peril),
Able to bless and forgive
Ourselves.
This is what is asked of us.

It is light that matters,
The light of understanding.
Who has ever reached it
Who has not met the furies again and again?
Who has reached it without
Those sudden acts of grace?

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Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, teacher as transformer and tagged conversational journey, creativity, eloquent questions, May Sarton, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, spirituality, teacher as transformer, The Angels and the Furies. Bookmark the permalink.

The Night Ship

Posted on December 4, 2016 by ivonprefontaine

William Ayot reminds me how much goes unexplored in my life. In the busyness and noise of my living, I do not hear what is calling me to be explored.

When I am mindful to the universe and my self, I hear whispers that come in gentle breezes and on the sun’s rays. Being present to the universe and my self, helps me explore stars that seemed beyond my reach and climb peaks I believed unscalable.

The universe is a great ocean calling to me and patiently waiting my response.

What do you want to do in this world?

What is your star, your far distant peak?

What dream lies unexplored within you

like a vast uncharted southern ocean:

daunting, demanding, compelling in the night,

yet receding in the bright and busy light of day?

What discoveries invite you to the water?

What deck awaits your first excited step?

What ship, what clipper, what brave caravel?

what crowded ferry crosses back and forth,

from dream to waking, dream to waking,

every morning of your undiscovered life?

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Posted in Education, Leadership, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, teacher as transformer and tagged creativity, education, eloquent questions, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, spirituality, stewardship, teacher as transformer, The Night Ship, William Ayot. Bookmark the permalink.

The world offers itself to your imagination ~ Mary Oliver

Posted on December 3, 2016 by ivonprefontaine

“You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me a…

Source: The world offers itself to your imagination ~ Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver is one of my many favorite poets. The poem Wild Geese, which is the poem these lines are from, comes from Poetry Showcase.

In the poem, Mary Oliver reminds us that we are part of a larger family and are being called home. When we are mindful, we can hear who and what calls us and we can imagine what that means to each of us. Even in the busyness of our living, there is something calling us to awaken and listen more closely.