The Liberated Life Project Switchboard — Now Open!
Seattle Municipal Archives/Creative Commons
I don’t have a wise quote for the top of this post, nor do I even have a post.
Instead, today I am devoting this space to all of you.
More and more I am starting to ‘get’ the feeling of tribe here among all of us. The in-person “Liberation Lounge” that I held a couple of weeks ago in Southern California really brought that home to me (I wrote about that in last week’s post).
Strangely enough, the day before that lounge, I was walking around Pasadena and had this idea:
What if there were faith- or church-based worker collectives
of people who provided elder care?
It seemed like a brilliant idea to me. There’s definitely a need — many baby boomers like me have aging parents and we aren’t able to be right in their towns to make sure things are okay all the time. But I’m not so crazy about paying a lot of money to an agency, who then gives a much smaller amount to someone I don’t know to do this work.
So wouldn’t it be great if, in my case, I could turn to a group of folks in the Buddhist community who had a passion for providing service and good company to those who are aging, and if they received fair compensation for their hard work?
This got me thinking… I bet many of you who read the Liberated Life Project have your own brilliant ideas.
And maybe you would like a forum to share these ideas, a way to network with others who share your vision, or who might have resources to help make it manifest. There are nearly 600 of you who receive these posts in your in-box weekly… and you share many of the same values. We are a powerful force!
So let’s give this a try. What’s your world-changing idea?
Use the comment section below if you have a great idea that you want to share with others and invite assistance in bringing to fruition. This might be assistance of any kind — financial, outreach, time, knowledge, or simply moral support and cheerleading.
The more specific you can be, the more we’ll know how we can help you — so don’t be shy about this.
I am happy to play idea matchmaker here in any way that I can. If someone has something really good brewing and you need a little help to, say, set up an Indiegogo campaign to fund your idea, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
And it’s also fine to use this space for other kinds of requests as well —
- If you’re going through some health challenges right now, let us know and we’ll offer up some good intentions and energy for you;
- Or maybe you just published an e-book or put up your new website and want to share the news;
- Celebrations are great too.
This switchboard can handle all kinds of stuff!
I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ll contribute here! Dive in…
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9 Comments
We had a major power outage last year (or was it the year before?) and there was a great need for police folks to direct traffic where the traffic lights were out, If the street lights were controlled by solar power, that would free up the police. I wrote several representatives about this, but no answer. They could use the solar panels we had for emergency phones before everyone had cell phones. I know solar batteries are expensive, but so are street lights, electricity to feed them, and salaries for folks who have to direct traffic when they fail.–My 2 cents worth.
June 12, 2013
Here is an idea already manifested, that is just what you talk about Maia: KickStarter.com
I gurantee you and others interested in this kind of idea fundraising will be interested!
June 11, 2013
Having community gardens supported by synagogues, churches, temples, zendos, congregations, sanghas … that would grow beautiful organic food to give away to those in need. I know many faith-based groups may have gardens attached to their local center, but what about having an interfaith/interspiritual garden where folks of all different walks of life come together, work together and, together, offer harvests of goodness into the world …
June 11, 2013
Wonderful vision, Yael… I would love to see this come to full fruition.
June 11, 2013
Right after I wrote that last reply, I came across this article that you might enjoy: http://afsc.org/friends/nourished-our-quaker-past-growing-and-sharing-food-community
June 11, 2013
I have seen several groups start gardens and also folks who collect extra fruit from people’s trees (with their permission) to feed those in need. I just put out bags of oversized zucchini or other extras.
June 12, 2013
I had the idea several days ago that there ought to be conservation credits and health credits for individuals such that if you make a choice that benefits the earth and others — by planting a garden, buying organic food from local producers, avoiding pesticides, using gray water to reduce your water consumption, etc. that you should get paid for this beneficial choice by your town, state, whatever. Essentially, this is rewarding good behavior. I have no idea how to set this in motion. I do think it is a worthy idea. I saw it as a way to reward individuals, but it could also be applied to communities where everyone participates in energy conservation or food-sharing or something.
June 11, 2013
I love this idea, Sharyn. I am sure that some scientist-types have figured out that it is much more effective to reward good behavior than to punish unwanted behavior. I’ve thought that it would be great if the Highway Patrol would randomly hand out cash rewards to people who are not speeding. Can you imagine what that would do to encourage more folks to drive at or below the speed limit?
As for your idea, maybe this is something that you could suggest to a place like a grocery co-op to try on as a pilot project. They could give substantial discount coupons to folks who are doing some of the beneficial actions that you noted. They might benefit by some great publicity and getting more customers. Just one idea… I’m curious if some of the other brilliant minds that read this blog have thoughts on how to get this off the ground.
June 11, 2013
Some people are presenting ideas concerning water conservation and its effect on climate change, and hope to present their ideas at the google+ hang out with Al Gore and Jeff Skoll, who invited people to contact them with their ideas. A lot of heavy hate mongering responded, but also there are some people and organizations who have done major work on different aspects of the human input to climate change and ideas to live more harmoniously with Earth. Here is the Gore hangout address going on as I write where you would find some extremely interesting ideas: http://www.takepart.com/an-inconvenient-truth-hangout
June 11, 2013