Tag Archives: teacher as transformer

Ask a Tree

Posted on September 18, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Thich Nhat Hanh wrote about a large tree on the grounds at Plum Village a Zen monastery in France. When people are feeling lonely, sad, angry, etc. he suggests they hug the tree for a few moments. It provides people with an opportunity to connect as they pause.

The druids lived in nature often living in trees. Nature was a cathedral and should still be today. As I drove home yesterday, I saw the changing colour in leaves and branches hanging over our street. Nature and trees have stories to tell. We only need to ask, pause of a moment, and listen attentively.

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Posted in Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged conversational journey, creativity, eloquent questions, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, nature, poetry, teacher as transformer, Thich Nhat Hanh. Bookmark the permalink.

Slow Down, You’re Going Too Fast

Posted on September 17, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Slow Down, You’re Going Too Fast.

Paul Simon is supposed to have written the song 59th Street Bridge Song which includes the line “slow down you move to fast” while sitting in a traffic jam on the 59th St. Bridge in New York City. It is not so much that we have to or, for that matter, can make the morning last longer. It is more likely when we pause and take time to enjoy the world as we move through it and it moves through us we feel that morning lasts longer.

Chronos time is a human-made construct. Here, we master and manage time. Kairos time is a fluid, natural flow of time without measure. One is calculating and the other meditating. When we live in the world in a hermeneutic way, we take time and read the contours of the world as it appears, as we encounter and experience it fully with all our senses. There is no rush in those moments.

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

Silver

Posted on September 16, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Silver.

If we can live in the world and it still amazes us and brings us wonder, the silver in our hair will shine. What do we hurry by and step over during our waking hours which, if we were fully awake, would shine forth their extraordinary qualities? Being present and mindful in the world and in our lives, brings the world into a fuller contrast with brightening of the colours, fragrances, tastes, feelings, and sounds.

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

Art’s nature versus “real” nature

Posted on September 15, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Art’s nature versus “real” nature.

The beauty and perfection of Nature is in its imperfection. It is asymmetrical. Alfred North Whitehead and Albert Einstein suggested whatever we needed to find was in Nature.

Nature has ways of speaking to us and revealing itself when we are present and attentive. Being awake means encountering Nature as part of it rather than outside of it as virtual observers. When we open up all our senses Nature reveals herself readily.

It is in the ordinary we find the extraordinary. Art is a way of expressing Nature through the sensuousness we feel. When I look at art, it is the less than perfect representation that attracts. There is something in the asymmetry that pulls me deeper into my relationship with the world.

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Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Reflective Moments and tagged Albert Einstein, Alfred North Whitehead, community, creativity, leadership, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, nature, stewardship, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Today

Posted on September 14, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Sabbath is here. Hafiz, the Sufi poet, wrote this wonderful poem which helps me understand Sabbath more fully. The third stanza speaks to the need to be present in the world. It is each Now that we can testify to the truth. Yet, this truth is always transient, because I recall it later incompletely.

I do not want to step so quickly
over the beautiful line on God’s palm
As I move through earth’s
Marketplace
Today

I do not want to touch any object in this world
Without my eyes testifying to the truth
That everything is
My Beloved

Something has happened
to my understanding of existence
That now always makes my heart full of wonder
and Kindness.

I do not
Want
To step so quickly
Over the sacred place on God’s body
That is right beneath
your own foot

As I dance with
Precious life
Today.

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Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, David Whyte, eloquent questions, Hafiz, Mindful Practice, poetry, spirituality, Sufi, teacher as transformer, Today. Bookmark the permalink.

482. Spring flowers are long since gone. Summer’s bloom hangs limp on every terrace. ~Louise Seymour Jones

Posted on September 13, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

482. Spring flowers are long since gone. Summer’s bloom hangs limp on every terrace. ~Louise Seymour Jones.

Summer in Alberta took a beating this week. It snowed and in some places along the Eastern Slopes it snowed a lot.

I love the seasons and their change. The cycle of life is visible during the various times of the year in Alberta. We move from summer to fall to winter and Nature reveals herself in Her changes. It is in the cycle that Nature’s creativity is fully revealed.

This is the time of the year that farmers and gardeners harvest. It is a time of celebration, community, and gathering together in thankfulness for the gifts we receive. In a world where global interests prevail over the local, we sometimes forget our closeness to Nature and a need to be thankful through prayers, poetry, and Psalms.

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Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged community, creativity, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, nature, stewardship, teacher as transformer. 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.

affirmations

Posted on September 11, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

affirmations.

When we get up to face the day, it is nice to have a few words which help us move into the day. These affirmations provide different ways to speak into the day quietly regardless of what we face.

The post reminded me of writing by Parker Palmer, Thomas Merton, Wendell Berry, and Mary Oliver amongst many. The quieter we are, the more we still our mind and body, the more able we are to hear the soul speak its words of wisdom. Courage grows from the heart. The word courage shares the same roots as the French word for heart, coeur. When we take heart, courage emerges.

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Posted in Mindful Life, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, Mary Oliver, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, Parker Palmer, spirituality, teacher as transformer, Thomas Merton, Wendell Berry. Bookmark the permalink.

Tree of poems (1)

Posted on September 10, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Tree of poems (1).

This post includes the poem written in three languages, English, Roma, and Italian, along with a graphic. The graphic is fuzzy as it should be. Living is like writing a poem. The space between the words mean something and create a fuzziness that perhaps speaks more clearly than the words spoken.

Similar to writing, living is always a process of editing. The stories we tell and the person we are (our whoness and isness) is not fully describable. Memories are incomplete and fuzzy even the moment we step out of this moment. Moreover, can we even know what we missed and did not understand? Living and reading poetry are always happening in the Now. They always take on new meaning as we listen and act again.

Living is an ongoing conversation in the world and with its phenomena. We live in community where our humanness is what provides the common feature between us and Others we are in relationship with. The world presses in on us and is included in the conversation as it helps us make sense of the journey we are on.

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

The Path

Posted on September 9, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

The Path.

This is a short poem which speaks to the humble beginnings each of us lives. Somehow, we occasionally forget these humble beginnings and the idea that each moment is its own humble re-beginning. We live in the most immediate time possible, now.

Taking time and realizing the path is made with each new step is a humbling experience, sometimes humiliating and always human. All these words, humble, humiliate, and human, share a common root, the word humus.

A path made of humus reminds us that there is a cycle to life. Each moment passes into a never fully retrievable history. In each moment, we live our questions when we are mindful and attentive in the world, not as observers. We live in community with the world and all its phenomena, sentient and non-sentient.