The Charles Schultz quote and Snoopy cartoon inspire. We only have to be attentive to realize what we love in the world.
Tag Archives: teacher as transformer
Pursue Only Those Things That Capture Your Heart
Pursue Only Those Things That Capture Your Heart.
The wisdom shared at the post reminded me about a comment made in a class several years ago. A colleague mentioned in ancient Hebrew the concept of catching one’s eye was almost literal. When we see something, it reaches out and takes hold of us in ways that are not explainable in words.
When something goes beyond the eye and finds the heart, it stays with us and we find meaning in that event. When we are mindful and attentive to those things which touch our hearts and catch our eyes, the world lights up and the ordinary becomes extraordinary.
Sixth sense
The poem at the link is a wonderful description of poetry as a sixth sense.
Poetry is like a sense which brings all the other senses alive and into sharper focus. We are able to read the words and enjoy their fuller meaning in the spaces between each word, each line, and each stanza.
We relive poetry over and over in new ways and embody the meaning in who we are and who we are becoming.
Straight Talk From the Fox
Mary Oliver, one of my many favourite poets, speaks often of our relationship both to and in nature. We are not separate from nature, but a part of it and relate to all its elements, sentient and non-sentient. We relate to nature and all its elements as a participant and not an external, passive observer.
Our observations are not something we can full grasp and write down. The closest we come is expressing what we feel in writing poetry and sharing photography.
Quite often, we are dumb to what happens around us. Other moments, we awake and soak it in through all our senses, embodying what the fox tells us and feeling so close to what we experience in those moments.
Listen says fox it is music to run
over the hills to lick
dew from the leaves to nose along
the edges of the ponds to smell the fat
ducks in their bright feathers but
far out, safe in their rafts of
sleep. It is like
music to visit the orchard, to find
the vole sucking the sweet of the apple, or the
rabbit with his fast-beating heart. Death itself
is a music. Nobody has ever come close to
writing it down, awake or in a dream. It cannot
be told. It is flesh and bones
changing shape and with good cause, mercy
is a little child beside such an invention. It is
music to wander the black back roads
outside of town no one awake or wondering
if anything miraculous is ever going to
happen, totally dumb to the fact of every
moment’s miracle. Don’t think I haven’t
peeked into windows. I see you in all your seasons
making love, arguing, talking about God
as if he were an idea instead of the grass,
instead of the stars, the rabbit caught
in one good teeth-whacking hit and brought
home to the den. What I am, and I know it, is
responsible, joyful, thankful. I would not
give my life for a thousand of yours.
RUMI
RUMI.
As Rumi suggested, perhaps we look in the wrong places. When we pause and take time, we can sense where we are being called to look.
It is like an old country song which suggested we are looking in all the wrong places.
impaired vision
There is always a dogmatic mind and dogma that influences the way we see the world and speak about it.
When we let go of our opinions, perhaps we improve our vision. We can never see clearly, but we can see more clearly as we let go and allow the sediment to settle.
More than a tree
When we look at a tree, is it just a tree? Or, is there more to that tree? It is likely the home to birds and other animals. Perhaps, rather than a home, it is a resting place during the day or seasons that pass. It is a place of shelter provides food, offers shade, and many other things that are overlooked in our daily passing of the tree. What story does it tell? We only know when we stop, close our eyes, and listen to the tree.
Just a thought: Peace may live in many places, though the best being when it lives in our hearts. – George-B.
This is a wonderful quote from George. Love from the heart is pure love. From the heart, we can give it without asking for anything in return. It is letting go in a passive way.
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 