DO the 1/1/1/1. Make Your New Year Really Count!



HAPPY '11 !



1/1/1997 (c) Donald B. Kravitz

(The Unofficially First)

1st Day at the Beach, Ocean City, NJ



Want to make your New Year's Resolution

really count this year?

Join me and DO the 1/1/1/1.

Even if you are a procastinator like me, and miss making a commitment on January 1st , yet again. Even if you see this on 1/8/11 or in March or November or 12/31/11, you and I can continue our 1/1 New Year hopes by celebrating how we give and receive any of the other days of the year!

Yup, the 1/1/1/1 isn't just for January 1.
The Resolution Fairy is a rather understanding
soul.


What's the 1/1/1/1?

In any given year "one" is a step, a beginning.

"One" can also, of course, be the sum of an entirety.
In mythologies 11/11 is symbolic of the opening of gates, of opportunity, and for making change.

2011 gives us a special, fun reminder of the symbol of "one's" beginnings and unities.
Every glimpse at the "11 calendar this year helps us remember that we can commit to a new "one" right now, this second.. or later. Sometimes it's a "just do it" and sometimes it's OK to "let it wait" or be "in process."

So, DOing the 1/1/1/1 is what you choose it to be.

DayOne365-- a 14 year-old project that has evolved in its own rather slow pace-- is really just about Celebration. Like many resolutions, it was birthed for the New Year, and its evolution is slow.

From our perspective this year's 1/1/1/1 wonderfully encapsulates the invitation of DO365.

• Do One for Yourself
• Do One for Your Family and Friends
• Do One for Your Local Community
• Do One for Our World

You can DO it a little everyday, or just once this year. Start it and stop it. It's OK to pick it up, revevaluate after it failed. Remember to have fun with whatever you do, while you do it!

I'm off to splash in the winter ocean today. It's a huge coming home to the place and time that I got the urge to "just do it." With the help of five others, lots of work, and the efforts of some pretty wonderful people over the years, that spontaneous moment in 1997 is now a community event enjoyed by over 5,000 spectators and about 700 ocean plungers! We do it for charitable reasons and we do it to replenish ourselves.

I've not taken the plunge since 2000. It's a good day to give it a go, again.

Join me. Take a plunge in whatever is important to you this year. Let's help each other make our New Year really count. 1/1/1/1 full splash ahead!

A New Year for DayOne-- Pledge While You Party

I'm heading to the National Conference On Citizenship at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. Check out their virtual link. You can watch all morning EDT on 9/09/09.
I'll write more next week about how 1/1/2010 is finally the year for DOing the DayOne!

The 2007 Question of the Year

HOW WILL YOU HELP OUR WORLD in 2007?

It's a simple question for a new year.

Yes, YOU....and me....
and your nosey neighbor, that overly-hard working co-worker, the driver who gave you the finger this morning, the sweet kid who bags your groceries (okay, sometimes pretty well), and the stranger across the country you'll never meet (and actually don't want to, anyway).

Time Magazine declared YOU (and by inference--everyone) to be the 2006 Person of the Year. Even, that TV show, Heroes, tries to induce a fantasy about everyday people with very human problems --kind of like us-- using super-hero-powers to "save the cheerleader" and somehow Save the World.

But can YOU really help the world--when all the anointed leaders have shown us from time immemorial that it's a pretty tough thing to do? You can't even persuade your cell phone company to correct their billing error, after all?

Day One 365 (or DO 365) is an idea that is two- weeks-old and yet a decade in the making. It was gestated in the belief that resolution is good and commitment to others is even better. And that January 1st is an important symbol -- the first day of the year to start the measure for the next 364.

Why Help the World? Because you and I are each, one of an expanding 300.51 million Americans sharing the planet with 6. 5+ billion other humans. There's a lot of magnificence out there, and lot of problems to solve.

hunger, cancer, global strife, illiteracy, addictions, deforestation, AIDS, incivility,the economy, diabetes, violence, corruption, child care, housing, natural resources, jobs, the aging, values (of all kinds) .... add your concern.... the list is long.

Life has a lot of tough moments-- in your own life, your family, community and the world. Finding time and strength is sometimes even tougher.

DO we each have an obligation, as mere inhabitants, to participate in the solutions? I believe we do, and along with perseverance, can have some fun working at making the difference. What do you think?

smiling at work, compromise more, lobby for a petition, join a service group, learn about another point of view, reach out to someone in need- today- and then next week, encourage a child, plant a tree, ask for help for a cause, forgive a little, sacrifice (for a second more) or (fill in the blank) ________________________ .

I invite you to come back here, and to our website as it evolves-- like resolutions-- it's got big goals, some that will change with your suggestions and help, and it has a long road to progress.

On January 1st -or even on December 13th (11-1/2 months from today, and a year from Day One 365's first breath)--
Make a wish and then an "I DO 365 "promise (I'll post mine here on Januray 1).
See if together, we can help your and my ideas come true. It's okay if we debate. With help from YOU and YOU and YOU and YOU.. maybe WE CAN make the difference.

Happy New Year to You and Our World 2007! ___________________________________________________
Please register your 1 sentence "I DO 365 " Promise to the World
December 28-January 31st in the Comments below.

• check http://www.dayone365.org/ for our registration ability updates
• email me directly for any and all suggestions and to add your blog
• add us to your blogs and feeds

special note: free speech rules, and so does civility.
___________________________________________________

2006 Technology Heroes

“What will you DO to Help Our World ?”
CALL FOR TECH HELP Community to Launch
a NEW YEARS RESOLUTION 2007 Site by 12/28/06
(and accepting all hands on deck after that date, too!)

Hi Everyone--

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you and your families.

We’re launching a late-start New Year’s Resolution site on 12/28 that a very well known progressive blog (2.3 million visitors/month) is willing to promote. The site http://www.dayone365.org/ (currently just a logo and the simple sentence) will be community and resource intense, asking people “What will YOU DO to help Our World in 2007?” The site will be non-partisan, connecting voices and link-rich for resources, and very real (not just the photo-ops of helping others, but addressing the conflicts, too). The potential for celeb and expert column outreach, revisits from users for updates and networking, and media is strong over the entire year.

…And yeah, I just got the idea for this website a week ago…just in time for everyone’s holiday scheduling.

Due 12/28 or 12/29 ----Most desperately, we need a cgi form uploaded for users to log/promise what they will do to help our world—simple fields of initials and a “promise” sentence.

We also need help in these areas, but not as desperately, at this point (I’m not tech, so please forgive my lack of lexicon)

• some design help for a simple, yet effective, user attracting portal
• registration form with several fields that can be open access for all members
• rolling banner of people’s new year resolutions, updated automatically
• enabling users’ video uploads to our site courtesy www.dave.tv coding
  (to be operational mid-January, though December 31 eve would delight us all, even
  more!!)
• a fantasy? SMS to website ability --January 1-- anyone?
• social networking—12/28 onward, especially for 12/31 and 1/1 registrations
• web marketing expertise

The site will grow with a more full launch mid-late January 2007. Let us know your interests in continuing the momentum.

Compensation:

• Name Credit and hyperlink
• compensation if we get any financial support. The business plan is anticipated to have a non-profit sponsorship/foundation revenue base.
• My forever gratitude for taking time out of your heavy schedule to help launch this site.

Contact Crystal dayone365@gmail.com vm: 215 680 2020