number 1 with text on an old iphone screen

One Second Everyday

Inspiration. We look for it. Sometimes we seek it directly by reading Chicken Soup books or watching Oprah. Sometimes we see something in our everyday lives and we think to ourselves, “Wow, I want to do something like that.” This indirect inspiration-seeking might happen more often for some. Today, I experienced inspiration indirectly. I stumbled upon a video that truly, truly inspired me. In fact, it inspired me to start blogging. The name of this video is actually the title of this piece, which is presented by one Cesar Kuriyama: One Second Everyday.

In this video, Kuriyama talks about his viewing of a TED talk by Stefan Sagmeister in which Sagmeister spoke of his philosophies on the power of time off. Every 7 years, Sagmeister would take a year off of work and pursue things that interested and fulfilled him. This sounds desirable, right? Kuriyama took it upon himself to begin his own style of self-fulfillment. While on a year-long vacation, inspired by Sagmeister, Kuriyama began taking video clips every day. He then would use one second of those video clips each day and proceed to compile the footage in hopes of crafting a lifelong film from his 30’s onward. Kuriyama says, “[…] if I live to see 80 years of age, I’m going to have a 5-hour video that encapsulates 50 years of my life. When I’m 40, I’ll have a 1-hour video of just my 30’s. This really invigorated me when I woke up to try to do something interesting with my day.” When I heard this, I immediately began to think about memory and all it entails. Kuriyama touches on this as well. Memory is cued by a visual. A visual can escape you quite quickly. However, when you recall that visual, you can usually place it within a certain day and recall other events that took place during that very day. Thus, the beauty of videotaping a second of every day is the permanent documentation of a memory. If you watch back on a compilation of your life’s seconds, you will realize how interesting and unique you and the events that take place in your life are.

So, whether you’re directly or indirectly searching for inspiration, maybe this idea, spurred by a previous idea, will inspire an idea that inspires you.

Watch the video for yourself and see how you feel:

http://www.ted.com/talks/cesar_kuriyama_one_second_every_day.html

This blog will be a hub for inspiration; for simply cool ideas that can and should be spread.