I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
Photo by Johnny O.
“Behind the mask of ice that people wear, there beats a heart of fire.” -Paulo Coelho, Warrior of the Light
Music heals so I’m adding music. Some of my favorite blogs add music (Ivor). Today I couldn’t decide between these two Sting songs. Then I realized I could add both. It’s not like there are WordPress Police watching every move I make.
♥.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
CHECKMATE
Can’t Wait or Too Late?The King Needs his Queen, he needs her indeed.
It is not just a matter ardent desire, but of absolute need.
The Army might save him once in a while,
But there is little joy in walking, step by step, single file.
Yes, one square at a time is all he can take,
Teamed with his great Queen they will crush the whole board,
Creating surrender in their wake.
The joy in their partnership expressing is a sight to behold.
Here is hoping I find that Great Queen before we are both too old.-John Olander
Welcome back Johnny O!
♥.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
Photo by WildOne, Pixabay
“All’s well that ends better.” -J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
This is the last in the Tolkien-quotes series. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading these as much as I’ve enjoyed creating them. Once again, special thanks to the Pixabay and Picmonkey photographers.
The journey of Samwise, Frodo, and company continues to Rivendell here:
I’m taking a break for a bit and will be back with Gems featuring some new photos from Cord X. and a poem from Johnny O. the week of November 18th. We’ll restart the videos and newsletters every week after that too.
Until then, may all your journeys be green and golden.
♥.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
Painting by Jonny Linder, Pixabay
“I happen to be privileged enough to be in on the fact that we have been visited on this planet, and the UFO phenomenon is real.” –Edgar Mitchell, USN, Apollo 14 Astronaut
I wasn’t looking for the opposite of “we are alone in the universe.” I found this quote by accident today. I was surprised to learn that the person saying this was a United States Navy Astronaut and the Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 14. I found the interview above, which is a clip of a longer interview. I used to love the TV show “X-Files,” but I was also content with not knowing. Now, though — hmm! What do you think?
I found my way to Mitchell’s quote while searching for the perfect quote to highlight one of our artists’ photos of a flower which I also need to identify. Still haven’t found either answer. Actually, maybe you can help with that. =)
Photo Copyright Cord X. Used with permission. Thank you! ♡
In the past year, both our top contributing, formerly-homeless creatives Cord X and John have found shelter and work and are safe. I’m so grateful and filled with joy when I think of this. Shelter and safety are essential to just normal, everyday function. For years, these two fine men not only functioned without it but contributed beautiful creations to share with us here.
Thank you so much Johnny and Cord!
♡. under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
Nic Askew SOUL BIOGRAPHIES Nowhere
“This will take your undivided attention. Which is not an insignificant request…Warning. This is haunting. You might be haunted. It was filmed in front of an audience in the INNER VIEW METHOD.”
THE WHISPER AND THE ECHO
A man looked for meaning.
For his very place in life.He searched high and low.
He’d often hear a whisper, calling
his name from the other side
of what seemed like a door.A door that remained hidden
from his ability to see.Frustrated, he’d knock on
everything that resembled
a door. Turning here,
and there. Turning
just about anywhere.Then one day,
unannounced,
it opened.And he realised that he’d been
knocking from the inside.
And that the whisper
had been an echo.The echo of his own soul
reminding him that
he was already home.-Nic Askew
I hope you have a moment to watch (full screen, with ear phones) this beautiful video, the latest of Nic Askew’s “Soul Biographies.” I have wanted to take Nic’s “Inner View Method” course since I first saw Amo La Vida with Julio Olalla. His incredibly beautiful method of interviewing is exactly the kind of biography I would love to offer for Volunteer Biographers. It’s a dream. Until then, Volunteer Biographers has three clients and we just assisted in the biography of a fourth client through transcription. Also, today I’m very happy to announce that one of our homeless artists (who has made incredible changes and is no longer homeless) will be our next Volunteer Biographer client. More on that in the months to come. Meanwhile, if you are a photographer or videographer, you might find Nic’s course as compelling as I do.
♡. under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Welcome to our July, 2018 ¤ Gallery Show ¤
Nicole Huguenin, one of our contributing artists and volunteers, and a dear friend, introduced us to our first homeless artist John Olander in 2017. Nicole was featured on our first Spotlight Saturday: Dream Together (fka Wild Dream Walks).
John has not only been generous with his poetry contributions, but has been very vocal and supportive about getting the word out about under1000skies to other homeless creatives and supporters in Denver.
Through Simbi, I met Cord in July of 2017. Cord, a very kind and wonderfully creative soul, not only shared some of his vivid photos from San Antonio but his absolutely beautiful poetry as well.
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Thank you so much to Johnny O. and Cord X. I’m so grateful for our connection to you, for your generosity, compassion, strength, tenacity and, most especially for your blazing creativity which inspires me every day.
With love and gratitude,
♡. under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Today we celebrate a light-filled Gem named ¤ John Olander. ¤
Our friends John “Johnny O” Olander and Nicole Huguenin, superstar Dream Walker, giftivism co-creator, and photographer. Nicole introduced us to John. ☼ Thank you! ☼
Today is a very special birthday. Our first contributing artist, John Olander, is celebrating 60 years on our sweet old world. Today we feature John’s contributions over the years in a slide show. John has something really special planned for today that he wrote and which he’ll be performing live in celebration. He has given us permission to share it soon. Meantime, if you get time today, please leave John a birthday wish in the comments below.
♡ Thank you John for you trust in under1000skies and for your generous contributions and open-hearted friendship. Happy Birthday dear friend. ♡
______
♡. under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
“Annual Light” Copyright John Olander 2018. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Thank you! ♡ Photos “Moon Sky” and “Sky Amazing” by Niki Flow
♡. under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
Poem “2nd Grade” John Olander. Photographer Unknown.
by John Olander
What was I thinking in the second grade?
How about the luminous face of my vibrant teacher?
She may have been a nun, but she still looked like she’d be a lot of fun.
But let’s not get carried away,
She did rap my knuckles with the ruler more than once,
And looked like she was enjoying it.
Just the same, what you are taught in the second grade is to love each other.
That comes long before bullying and ridicule, arrogant self-identity,
Followed by the beginning of separation and cliquish behavior.
Your drawing need not be perfect,
Your penmanship doesn’t matter.
Your Generosity permeates everything.
You still emulate everything that is good.
Your joy in life itself is both palpable and contagious.
It is only in becoming jaded and forgetting the joy
that is the giving of yourself that you begin to age.
♡. under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.
.
Our homeless artists inspire me every day. Johnny O has been on the street for 20 years, and he has never given up. He constantly focuses on helping others, on improving his life and on giving to the world with his uplifting and inspiring poetry.
Cord is a very gentle soul whose quiet presence and comments on Simbi made me feel so welcome there when I joined. He was homeless for a long time, but he keeps a gorgeous poetry blog that blew me away first time (and every time) I read it. He’s so talented. He also takes some of the most stunning photos I’ve ever seen.
I was homeless as a teen in 1974 (a runaway for a week) and again in 1997 when I lost literally everything. Both times, I met some really cool people who live in the cracks between everyone else’s reality. These are my people — the ones I feel most comfortable with. I guess that’s because, in my own way, I live in the fringes too, made “homeless” in this world by my own demons. I live in shelter, in comfort, with abundance and with as much support as I could possibly need. Yet both these kind souls have never judged me and have been really supportive about under1000skies.
The irony of an agoraphobic trying to help the homeless is not lost on me. I hope some day it will be a really cool part of the story of how I overcame this thing; about how under1000skies thrived; and about how, together, we connected and helped homeless artists around the world.
Who inspires you to be your best self?
Posted on KindSpring here: 300 Days of Gratitude Day 13: Who Inspires You to Be Your Best Self?
