I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
“When all capacity for ill will is gone, all that is left is original goodness. When all capacity for hatred is gone, all that is left is original love.” Eknath Easwaran
♡. 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 ¤
I found three of the quotes in this series about love and fear among seven others on this site: 10 Quotes about Love and Fear.
Quote 1 is by Marianne Williamson, a woman who has inspired me and millions of others over the years. If you don’t know who she is, she’s got a nifty site and a newsletter you can sign up for here: Marianne.com
Quote 2 is by Oprah Winfrey, another inspiring and amazing woman. Her site is Oprah.com — it’s a bit hard to load on slower computers because it contains a lot of footage from her TV show, but well worth the wait. My favorite video series is “Super Soul Sunday.”
The third quote is from the New Testament book “1 John.” I wanted to credit the exact author of that letter, but I learned today reading after this interesting article that the authorship of 1 John has never been determined. Experts aren’t even sure that the author of the letters 2 John and 3 John (known as “The Elder”) is the same author as the first. Since the Bible is one of my favorite books of study, I found this fascinating.
The last quote is actually two quotes by C.S. Lewis, author of Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, Letters to Malcolm, The Problem of Pain and many others. His romance with American Joy Davidman became the basis of beautiful book by Brian Selby which became an equally beautiful movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger, Shadowlands. Since i didn’t find a quote by Lewis that contained both words in this month’s theme (“love” and “fear”) I combined one of each. One of my favorite quotes by C.S. Lewis is something he said to Joy one day in Shadowlands, not long after he discovered she was sick:
“Pain is the price we will pay – then – for the love we have — now. That’s’ the deal.”
We make this deal every time we love.
Niki Flow
♡. under1000skies
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.
Our Pinterest pages:
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
The theme for May is “fear” and, its opposite, “love.”
Photo by Niki Flow. Created with PicsArt. Instagram filter “LowFi.”
Update: May 8, 2017
There are people in my life who are brave on a daily basis. These people remind me that I can be brave — that I always have been.
Under1000skies resumed daily posts today and will continue hopefully until I’m long gone. This is my golden bowl, and this work is vital.
The pain, every day upon waking; the knowledge that, after 402 days, my son Benjamin Archer is still missing; — these will not be undone by hiding, numbing, or distracting. After all, “Life is about using the whole box of crayons.” Even the storm colors.
♡. under1000skies
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s what’s happening ¤ under1000skies ¤
This week we featured a beautiful photo from Alisa Reagan, two photos from Niki Flow and one painting from an unknown artist.
Happy Friday! Today’s TGIF is based on a quote from Gandhi:
Born on October 2, 1869, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi‘s life exemplified this great advice. I added “Inspirational” to the acronym today since it’s a goal:
“Be…
T.ruthful
G.entle
[I.spirational] &
F.earless.”
The theme for the month of January is “journey.” If you have a favorite quote or poem about “journey,” or the journey of life, please leave a comment! Just a heads-up, the theme for February will be “beauty.” We at under1000skies truly believe that when we show each other what we find beautiful, we get a glimpse into each others’ hearts.
May you find joy and beauty every day on your journey through life.
♡. under1000skies
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 ¤
The theme for the month of January is “journey.” Special thanks to Rajni for submitting this wonderful quote from Ryszard Kapuściński. If you have a favorite quote or poem about “journey,” or the journey of life, please leave a comment!
May you find joy every day on your journey,
♡. under1000skies
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s what’s happening ¤ under1000skies ¤
This week we featured a beautiful photo from Alisa Reagan, two photos from Niki Flow and one photo from an unknown photographer.
We also shared the letter we include with our artist packs:
Happy Friday! Today’s TGIF is a video shared on KindSpring.org yesterday by Rajni. It’s a spoken-word piece by Curly Street Media called “Love.” This short and beautiful video was a gift to me yesterday. May it be so for you too. TGIF: “Love” – This Gift Is Forever
“Love liberates. It doesn’t just hold. That’s ego. Love liberates.”
“Right may not be expedient. It may not be profitable. But it will satisfy your soul.”
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
Photo © Alisa Reagan 2016. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Thank you! ♥ Quote submitted by Rajni. Thank you! ♥
The theme for the month of January is “journey.” If you have a favorite quote or poem about “journey,” or the journey of life, please leave a comment! Also, we don’t do fund raising. Our only source of revenue is donations and the sale of Elanthian Love Songs – A Bard’s Tale by Sara Michele O’Sullivan (Niki Flow). Starting in 2017, 100 percent of the profits from the sale of this book go to buying artist packs. If you would like to contribute photos, artwork, writing or to be one of our volunteers, please contact us at the email address at the bottom of our About Us page or leave a comment below.
May you find joy every day on your journey,
♡. under1000skies
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 ¤
Today we’re featuring a sketch from Niki Flow’s #the1000dayproject on Instagram (which is accompanied by a one-minute recording there).. Niki was invited to this project while listening to an interview on Awakin.org with Elle Luna (author of The Crossroads of Should and Must). Every day for the past 69 days she has used a post-it note and a sharpie to do broad sketches, inspired by a story Elle told during the interview about designing for IDEO. Today, inspired by her friend MJ’s poetry contribution yesterday, Niki decided to begin to show her poetry to a wider audience. As we announced last February, 2016, profits from Elanthian Love Songs – A Bard’s Tale go to funding packs for under1000skies. When we published it was 50 percent until we paid our artist, the fabulous Stephanie Pui-Mun Law (Shadowscapes.com) and our editor. At the end of 2016 we did so and now we can contribute 100 percent of the profits from the sale of Elanthian Love Songs to funding artist packs. This is part 1 of one of the poems in Elanthian Love Songs. Parts 2 until the end will be recorded one minute at a time (the limit on Instagram) and will be illustrated there every day with Niki’s post-it sketches. The plain text of this part of the poem is below since the type is small. Please pass this on and let others know to support our only way to raise funds. We don’t do fund raisers or solicit funds of any kind. This is in line with the gift economy and Nipon Mehta’s beautiful economic vision called “Gifivism.” Thanks so much for supporting under1000skies.
PALE CRAB BALL
(Part 1)
A long time ago, or perhaps yesterday,
I heard a sad story of lovers betrayed.
‘Twas a pity.
The story begins a short distance from here
In the time of full moon, in the Spring of the year
near our city.
For during that time you can hear a strange call,
“Come one come all to the pale crab ball!”
near the river!
“Tis a day to be merry, to dance and to sing
“So come little crabs, let your pincers ring loudly
with rhythm!”
With eyestalks that wiggled, inside eyeballs jiggled
On quick little legs, they skittered and zigged
by the dozens.
And with them came one, a shy pale-crab lass,
Shell polished and sparkling, to this her first dance
with her cousins.
Now off to the side, a band was beginning
With reed pipes and grass lutes, and shells for a’pinging.
The dance started.
The pale crabs all rose up on multiple legs
And gracefully spun with each other and swayed,
so lighthearted.
(To be continued – here – tomorrow and ongoing. There are approximately 7 more minutes to go (49-50 stanzas or so. )
The theme for the month of January is “journey.” If you have a favorite quote or poem about “journey,” or the journey of life, please leave a comment!
♡. under1000skies
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s what’s happening this week on ¤ under1000skies ¤
This week we featured three photos from Alisa Reagan
and one from Niki Flow
Thank you for donating your beautiful photos! ♡
During 2017, we will be working to build both websites and have them up and running as soon as possible. As you may have read, thanks to Bay Area Web Designers, we received a free year of hosting for our Domestic Violence advocacy and survivor site, Moonsongs.net which will go live by the end of March. This will be a sister site to under100oskies.org. Very often, women and children who are victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes become homeless.
One of our photographers and volunteer coordinator, Niki Flow, spent years with her youngest son homeless. Niki lost her home and the contents of her home due to DV and stalking. Most of that time, she and her son did not spend on the street but in DV shelters, with friends and family. Domestic violence was also the cause of the death of her youngest son, Samuel Christopher. Since then, Niki and her two older sons, Benjamin and Joseph, have been passionate about helping those who are homeless and who have been through trauma become — not just survivors — but a strong, connected tribe of thrivers.
We’ll be using the Under1000skies.com site for our new store (coming soon!), and 100 percent of the profits from our products sold there will go to buy artist packs. We’ll be selling things like cards, stationary and mouse pads using Niki Flow’s heart-people drawings, like the one above. The under1000skies.org site is where we’ll have our artist gallery and daily photos.
This weeks TGIF is a cool #freebiefriday thanks to Liz Stevens Art. She tweeted this today:
Thanks to
@thehandmadehome for this gorgeous FREE printable planner that I’ve been using for 3 years
The Handmade Home 2017 Planner
I can’t wait to print this and start using it. Such a beautiful gift to the world! *cheering wildly* Thanks so much Ashley and Liz!! ♥
The theme for the month of December is “joy.” If you have a favorite quote about “joy,” please leave a comment! As always, we would love to feature your creative visions. When we show each other what we find beautiful, we get a glimpse into each others’ hearts.
May you find joy every day.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
Photo by Niki Flow. I took this photo on a recent walk. I stood under this beautiful tree and took a quick photo looking straight up. I didn’t see the heart until I opened it in psp9. Do you see it? =) ♥.
“When people say they can’t see the good coming from the pain, my answer is that it’s not our job to know. It’s God’s. It’s just our job to trust, whether we see it or not, that He brings beauty from the ashes.” -Sara Frankl, Choose Joy: Finding Hope and Purpose When Life Hurts
“If this is my life, if this is where I am, then this is where God is, too.” -Sara Frankl, Choose Joy: Finding Hope and Purpose When Life Hurts
These two quotes are really helpful — if you believe in God. If not, there is still scientific evidence that shifting focus can reduce pain. This is true physically of course as many Lamaze moms know, but it’s also true for emotional pain as well.
I’ve been in both places — believing in a benign being and believing spirituality is a hoax and a crutch. In both cases, I found ways to choose joy. I hope you can today too.
Here are a couple of quotes about choices we make in life from a scientist and a skeptic.
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” -Albert Einstein
“We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone.” -Orson Welles
The theme for the month of December is “joy.” I chose “joy” to honor my sister-in-law Joy Archer was killed in 1984 after graduating second in her class from MIT. Our annual Running-for-Joy 5k/1mile walk/run takes place on her birthday December 26th to celebrate her life. This is held where you are and all are welcome. We donate to Kiva.org in Joy’s honor but that’s completely optional. We’ve had several remote participants over the years who run/walk on Joy’s birthday to remember the amazing life she lived in only 23 short years.
If you have a favorite quote about “joy,” please leave a comment! As always, we would love to feature your creative visions. When we show each other what we find beautiful, we get a glimpse into each others’ hearts.
May you find joy every day under1000skies. ♡.
