lal.wHeretwoworldsTouch.com     3.  Living the Awakened Life   INTRODUCTION     Briefly:  A subweb that focuses on lifestyle, products, services, behaviors [large listing of activist organizations, for example], reflective of the kinds of values almost universally reported about or from those who have had life-changing exceptional human experiences / EHEs. Very focused on caring for the Earth, all creatures, and each other .. An extensive but highly selective collection of business interests and educational and service organizations will put out their shingles here – maybe on a donation or sliding scale basis. I also have developed substantial lists of affiliate-program-type businesses toward the purpose of keeping this site funded. As you may already see, there are quite a few revenue streams that easily come into play throughout the site.   [Dedicated to this sacred Earth and to our greater Awakening]             I don’t know about you, but I’ve been suffering low-grade depression about the spiraling degradation of the state of the world and our ever more precarious lives as creatures here probably for most of my life, and I tend to think most of us do to some degree unawarely if not consciously. And like most of the rest of us, I have felt so helpless in the face of all this negativity and greed and destruction in all its nearly infinite varieties of expression – everything from the basics of human relationship and evolving past ‘dysfunctional’ personally and on a global scale to what I put in the trash cans on a daily basis and the quality of the water we drink and what our children are being exposed to through not only the media, but our schools and communities as a whole . . In short, almost everything has a challenging down side .. some being very low-down, into and well past sleaze and scum, if you know what I mean.           The one thing that has turned that around for me is the awareness of these spiritually transformative experiences that give a very other perspective about life here and LIFE-writ-large, even on our singular ability to impact our world in a more positive way. People who have such experiences SEE life differently than they did before their initial transformative moment/s. They are genuinely happier, more loving, caring. They are more creative and solutions oriented or just plain accepting of others and even the most difficult life situations. They care for the planet itself in a way perhaps even most never imagined before their Big Turn-around event/s. They also coincidentally [a useful pun here] tend to acquire a whole sprout jar full of new talents and spiritual gifts, such as intuitive or psychic abilities, totally new knowledge bases they had not had before, the gift of healing.           My initial intentions were to know their stories, how their lives have changed and if possible why. I wanted to change, too, if I could, or at least maybe imagine what it would mean to live more like these people live – maybe that alone would contribute in a positive way to my life and to the lives of others. Or maybe just reading or hearing their stories would have a profound impact on my life and values, and in fact this is “a phenomenon” that happens to many and did happen for me.           I wanted to know, what do they do with their time and energy now that’s different than before their EHEs—how do these experiences affect their workaday world?  How did their values change?  What do they care about, what do they put their energies and enthusiasm into, and how? Out of this trend of thought grew the Living the Awakened Life Portal, which will include the stories of EHErs and addresses these kinds of questions about their values and lifestyle before and since their EHEs. In this segment of the site can be found also the activist interests they support, what they put their communally and vocationally focused energies into -- services and products they provide or use themselves.               Although it may fall more clearly under the activities of the LLR, EHE study groups will get a high profile on every subweb except the PDD [Death and Dying subweb].   Revenue Streams   Affiliate program/reseller sources will be a 'presence' comprising most of the hundreds / thousands of options to be found here Services, products offered from the membership subwebs [ESC, DTCII] Development Plans   This may not be exhaustive, but it will give you an indication of the kinds of material and activity we will be offering and what kinds of technical, administrative, and other assistance will be required to bring this into being.     STATIC  About LAL; articles, various means for discussion of EHEerly values, trends, and lifestyles. Lists [e.g., links] = database-driven, probably.  Needs a very efficient system for keeping links updated on daily basis. Specific static options:  Dedication; Site Map; introductory materials. These will be linked to interactives and/or  databases:   Introductory pages to each section [e.g., products/services; reviews; activist/organizational links]. INTERACTIVE Audio and/or visual technologies:  interviews with just you-me folks telling their EHE stories and how these have influenced their lives in all respects. Programs about everything EHEerly -- the impact and promise of this phenomenon on individuals; networks;  lifestyle, values, trends; global impact; creativity; inspired solutions to challenges; transforming the world one experience and one person at a time; special programs sponsored by ESC, DTCII. Widest access to be provided through all the dominant technologies [e.g., palm pilots, radio, etc.]. Blog/s. Email [including admin emails and onsite contact pages]. Movies:  anything to do with EHEerly lifestyle, transformation, especially if [auto]biographical. Regular or special events:  talk shows, interviews, question/answer on special topics with special guest expert.  Examples: interviews with those EHEers who offer services, products, service organizations -- is there a relationship between their EHEs and their lifestyles and what they now devote their time and passion to [what they offer the world]; what their priorities in life are now that are different from before their EHEs.   Conferencing, such as to support / facilitate / bring to our site special interests, such as  EHE Study Groups, which will sourced largely out of this and the LLR subwebs. Surveys:  all things EHE, specifically having to do with lifestyle trends -- could be some rich material here for the LLR, ESC, DTCII also. DATABASES   Activist and other interests that support and are supported by EHEerly lifestyle trends, values. Growing collection of EHE stories and autobiographies. Products & services that support and are supported by EHEerly ideologies and interests. Reviews of products, services; also of service / activist organizations. Music.   Special challenge:  how do we allow for a lot of input from the client side, such as links, EHE autobiographies and stories, also reviews with clean efficiency, yet complete bottom-line control for what gets seen on the site? Factoring in client reviews, feedback should be utilized as a plus.  This could so easily get out of control without the right setup at the beginning MEMBERSHIPS, GROUPS [special databases to keep current about members, processing applications and money and other data, information this will require] EHE Study Groups -- probably to be offered through meetups.com or something similar.  This is to take place on a local basis, but we may sponsor special events and conferences if enough interest is expressed. ADMIN. AND OTHER STAFF Answering email. Any back-end responsibilities that are not automated to facilitate what site has to offer -- mostly answering technical questions troubleshooting web-related issues. Keeping all the data controlled, up-to-date, daily reviewed for appropriateness of content. NOT SURE HOW TO CATALOG THESE [usually because of complexity of what is needed, no one simple answer, or special notes needed] Online 'workshops':  could be either powerpoint or video-type presentation with static page containing references, contacts, links, pages to download and print.  Quite a few LAL  topics can be presented as a whole series of workshops, ebooks, even conferences, programs.  But in this generally nonmember subweb, these topics will be dictated considerably by the interests of the people who visit and what they tell us they want to see.  The possible topics would be endless, but for certain areas they will be directed to the other subwebs. EHE Study Groups [through LLR and LAL]: We might best facilitate this important topic through yahoo groups and meetups or something similar.  Ideally, we will do this in such a way that connects people regularly and directly to wHe.. as integral to all that goes on within these groups, such as for easy access to study materials and to others who share this interest.   A BIG THING:  A yearly awards program bringing attention to outstanding services, products, creativity, great solutions to tough challenges in the world/community.