Tag Archives: teacher as transformer

Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29

Posted on March 12, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

I am often challenged to see life’s challenges as ways to grow; to turn the bitter into wine. It has become easier with age, maturity, and perhaps wisdom. It is easier to embrace change as inevitable and life is a transient journey I am on. Nothing remains constant and static. It becomes easier to reclaim my voice with an attitude of resilience. I stand in ways that allow me to move back and forth into the pain and breathe. Rilke spoke of this so well in this wonderful poem.

Quiet friend who has come so far,

feel how your breathing makes more space around you.

Let this darkness be a bell tower and you the bell.

As you ring, what batters you becomes your strength.

Move back and forth into the change.

What is it like, such intensity of pain?

If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.

In this uncontainable night, be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,

the meaning discovered there.

And if the world has ceased to hear you, say to the silent earth: I flow.

To the rushing water, speak: I am.

21 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, Mindful Practice, poetry, Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus II, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Why I Wake Early

Posted on March 6, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

Mary Oliver wrote this poem about being an early riser and what it can mean. I used to fight the alarm clock, turn over several times, and hit the snooze button. With age, I realized that 5:00 or 5:30 AM was the time my body wanted my mind to join it and begin the day. I eat breakfast quietly, go for a cup of tea, and reflect. I do all of this in solitude. Even the busiest Starbucks at 6:00 AM, is quiet. I find many of the things that make the day worth facing in that quiet and solitude. I find creative space there.

Hello, sun in my face.

Hello, you who made the morning

and spread it over the fields

and into the faces of the tulips

and the nodding morning glories,

and into the windows of, even, the

miserable and the crotchety –

best preacher that ever was,

dear star, that just happens

to be where you are in the universe

to keep us from ever-darkness,

to ease us with warm touching,

to hold us in the great hands of light –

good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day

in happiness, in kindness.

60 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, Mary Oliver, Mindful Practice, poetry, Starbucks, teacher as transformer, Why I Wake Early. Bookmark the permalink.

You Reading This, Be Ready

Posted on March 5, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

Recently, I attended a presentation and the person commented, “The only now we have is this one right here.” I began to use this with students. In the busyness of life, what do I want to remember? If I am present, right here, now, I can see the extraordinary aspects of the world I live in the now. I bring my mind into the room and it joins the shell, my body. William Stafford shared this Zen-like view of the world in this poem.

Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. This interval you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life –

What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

27 Comments

Posted in Education, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, education, leadership, Mindful Practice, poetry, teacher as transformer, William Stafford, You Reading This Be Ready, zen. Bookmark the permalink.

These Days

Posted on March 3, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

I take my leave for the next day and will return Monday. I find in the quiet time those important things, their roots, and the dirt they grew in. Several Buddhist authors wrote about the need to recognize both the flowers and the weeds in our gardens. Charles Olson wrote this beautiful, simple, short poem I think echoes that message. I examine life fully and grow attentive, present, and creative in moments of solitude. The gap between stimulus and response grows. I explore radical opportunities to respond, not react. Enjoy.

whatever you have to say, leave
the roots on, let them
dangle

And the dirt

Just to make clear
where they come from

12 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged Buddhism, charles olson, Charles Olson. These Days, creativity, Mindful Practice, poetry, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Preface to Leaves of Grass

Posted on March 2, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

I re-blogged Distraction and Love yesterday. John posted it originally at What is Real True Love? He followed up to comment and left a long, wonderful comment with quotes. What distracts us? I only ask and answer that question when I have the space and solitude. It is in those moments that I can hold my questions and have enough compassion to receive the answers. I was led to this passage by Walt Whitman from John’s comments. I gently question my facts and truths, learned throughout my life in the quiet of meditation and prayer.

I love his beard and hair. When I grow up, I might look like him. I hope to find the wisdom Whitman spoke of so eloquently. Enjoy.

“Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote you income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take your hat off to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul your very flesh shall be a great poem.”

23 Comments

Posted in Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, eloquent questions, leadership, Leaves of Grass, Mindful Practice, poetry, spirituality, teacher as transformer, Walt Whitman, What is Real True Love. Bookmark the permalink.

Life Is…

Posted on February 28, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

We are writing poetry at school. Tomorrow, we write extended metaphors. I provide examples for students. I wrote this extended metaphor several years ago. I hope you enjoy.

Life is a spirited ride…
It soars;
Plummets;
Break neck speed.

Out of control;
On the edge;
It swerves–
Remains on the rails.

Never fully alone;
Solitude appears when needed;
Safe, yet vulnerable–
This paradox.

I breathe deep,
Exhilarated—
Life fully lived and experienced;
Not meant to be tamed.

39 Comments

Posted in Education, Lesson Plans, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, education, Life is, metaphors, Mindful Practice, poetry, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Posted on February 26, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

This is not the poem. I chose a part that speaks to me deeply. I tend to be a bit of rebel. I know it hard to believe, but I am always willing, when others are not, to shake up the things as they are. T. S. Eliot said it so well: “Do I dare/Disturb the universe?” I find comfort some days in the power of that question. What in my universe needs to be disturbed? Even as I grow older, what does wisdom call on me to do that ruffles my feathers and those around me?

And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea…

And indeed there will be time
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—
[They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”]
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin—
[They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”]
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

14 Comments

Posted in Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged community, creativity, eloquent questions, leadership, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, T. S. Eliot, teacher as transformer, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Bookmark the permalink.

Stillness, Silence, Insight, Clarity

Posted on February 24, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

I am reading Buddha’s Brain which summarizes the neuroscience about the benefits of meditation and solitude. The authors, Rick Hanson and Richard Mendius, intertwined science and poetry from practitioners of contemplative practices.

A few weeks ago, I began to blog differently and blogged less each day plus plus continued to take a day away from the computer. I thought I would feel less connected, but I feel more connected. I might have more clarity when I blog as I move in and out of stillness and quiet. I leave you with this short and profound poem by Tenzin Priyadarshi from the above noted book.

If there is no stillness,

there is no silence.

If there is no silence,

there is no insight.

If there is no insight,

there is no clarity.

27 Comments

Posted in Leadership, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath and tagged blogging, clarity, insight, Mindful Practice, poetry, quiet, Richard Mendius, Rick Hanson, spirituality, stillness, teacher as transformer, Tenzin Priyadarshi. Bookmark the permalink.

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