One Day On Earth - 10/10/10 a.k.a. The Day I Almost Disappeared

Where were you on October 10, 2010?  That was the question I was asked prior to attending an LA Idea Project dinner series that hosted speakers Kyle Ruddick and Cari Ann Shim Sham, the team of One Day On Earth on February 12, 2011. This will be easy to figure out was my immediate thought. After all, among other things, I am a planner, a journalist and a photographer. I document and highlight key life moments daily, taking notes and pictures constantly of anything that intrigues, inspires or interests me. Or so I thought...

The day of the dinner, I searched high and low for evidence of my whereabouts on that day and came up blank. No notes or agenda written on my calendar, no pictures on my camera from that day, no emails written or received, no purchases made on my bank statements. The day was blank.  How was this possible? I wondered... What did I do that day?  I know I existed for here I still am. I didn't disappear. I must have done something?! Dig deeper, I thought.  I must have some record of that day.

As it turns out, in order to detox, remove and release some of the stress and pressure of an incredibly full & productive life in the big bustling city that is Los Angeles and to truly relax, maintain balance, stay healthy, focused and grounded, sometimes I decide to simply slow things down and take a day for myself  to just be quiet, rest and reflect.  As I researched further, I realized that Sunday, October 10, 2010 was one of those days. Not yet having discovered One Day On Earth's cause, I thought it was a perfectly auspicious day to do so given it was a Sunday and the date was numerically aligned & significant, a perfect day for silence and reflection.  I did receive two phone calls according to my phone records but other than that, I had nothing physical to contribute to the project.  Still wanting to participate, I submitted a postcard with a 24-hour circular timeline with two small pie pieces marking the time of those phone calls as my contribution to the evening, "The Day I Almost Disappeared".

That evening, I discovered and was in complete awe of clips of this incredible crowd sourced documentary of everything that had been transpiring around me in the universe while I had essentially disconnected. While I was taking a brief and rare moment of silence and reflection, people from every country in the world were participating in the global film experience that is now the film documentary One Day On Earth.

The film is currently screening until June 28th at the Laemmle Music Hall 3 in Beverly Hills. After much excitement and anticipation to see the finished film, yesterday I finally experienced the final incredible connected documented journey of that One Day On Earth and highly recommend you experience the beauty of it for yourself. People from every country in the world documented and submitted footage on a variety of beautifully passionate topics from life to death including children, animals, nature, the environment, love, health, war, famine, politics, the economy, music, passion, and more. The film's Director, Kyle Ruddick was at the screening I attended yesterday for a question and answer session.  For more information and to participate in future events, please visit http://www.onedayonearth.org/

So do you know what were you doing on October 10, 2010?  Do your homework to figure it out and then go witness the film and experience all that was simultaneously connecting to you to life on Earth on that one day. It's perspective is collaborative, participatory and inspiring all in one moment.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Please also show your support by sharing this information with others. Thank you. :)

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Connections

I first met Steve Connell early on a Saturday morning 

when he and Sekou Andrews woke me up with words  

by opening the LA Idea Project Conference with beautiful poetry in 2009. 

I've been enjoying the truth, inspiration and energy of their Spoken Word ever since. 

Steve speaks here about the real meaning of CONNECTION!

Love this!

Technology advancement has provided us with incredible instruments to share, connect and gain knowledge easily accessible at our finger tips. When I saw this I paused, humbly reminded that my grandma never had a cell phone or used a computer and our connection was deep, real and in person. The best and most rewarding & memorable experiences of my life didn't happen while browsing the internet, but while I was out enjoying the moment, fully present. Some of my best and most interesting friends in the world don't participate in online social media or even have Facebook accounts and one of the most important lessons I've discovered from the 140 character limit on Twitter is that brevity is not my forte. I've been procrastinating seeing one of those friends for a while now so this week I'm going to make time for her as well as turn off the distracting background noise for a night and make my playlist of 2011 favorite songs.

Stay connected without getting lost.