I’m posting this from an American Airlines flight—in the air.

Yeah, whoa. Makes my brain hurt too.

Whee!

“Huh,” Marty said earlier this week: “Why are you worldmegan.net instead of worldmegan.com? I always wondered.”

Well, here’s the thing. I perceive dot com to be about commerce. I perceive dot net to be about connecting.

It’s not that cut and dry, and I know there are better interpretations than I’m aware of. But dot com is very business, and dot net is very network. And I’m not a non-profit (not really, anyway), so dot org, for me personally, isn’t quite right. This may not be a “network” in the usual sense, but one important purpose of this website—Personal Revelations of the Magnificent Megan M., that is—is to connect with other people. Writing about subjects that connect me to other people is important to me. Conversations in the comments are important to me. (Hell, that’s why I switched to Disqus.) And maintaining the connections I manage to make is important, too.

So yes, there are other reasons I write. Just in case you wondered. ;}

PS. Yeah, you may have noticed that worldmegan.com brings you here, too. I just didn’t want anyone to run astray because of my little preference. Silly, huh?

Early yesterday morning Seth Godin wrote that the world is getting smaller every day. You—yes, YOU —have the ability to touch and change the lives of people you’ll never once meet in person, often from your living room. The ways in which we affect the world around us are sometimes thrilling, sometimes humbling, but all of them are important. The smallest thing that makes a difference is still very necessary.

I’ve already started to hear whispers and reviews of Jacqueline Novogratz’ book, first from Seth and then from others. It’s called The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World. There’s no doubt that it’s worth reading—the way it was, doubtlessly, worth living.

Ms. Novogratz actually founded the Acumen Fund, and the things they do are heartening. As high-impact positive enterprises go, the Acumen Fund is impressive. (Not to mention that they have truly great champions.)

For each copy of The Blue Sweater sold this week, an additional $15 will be donated to the Acumen Fund. This will affect the first 5,000 copies sold, and the money is coming from an anonymous $75,000 matching grant. I suspect those copies will go quickly (especially considering Seth’s wide-ranging readership), but each of the people who buy them will be changing the world in just a little way. It will take almost no effort at all. It’s such a small thing to reach out make a difference, somewhere. It’s the little things that add up, and really count.

I want to be a part of that (and I ordered my book this morning).

I’m pretty sure you do, too.

You can use a tool like Highrise to track every single conversation you’ve ever had in your life, and the pertinent details of each person you meet. But I have sudden clarity: Why not also use it to track what each of them wants?

I’m not using Highrise at the moment, but musings like Bob’s make me want to start it back up again. Except this time, it’s far more important to me to track the ways in which I can help a person, rather than, necessarily, our conversations or how much business potential there is with them.

I just want to put a new spin on the address book: Name, occupation, where we met, things they like, what they want, what drives them. What or whom they identify deeply with. What do they really need? How can I really help them? And that last part should have nothing specific to do with money. How can I really help them?

You know—by introducing them to someone else. Or teaching them how to set up a simple blog. Or going out for dinner and letting them talk for an hour. Or telling them how much I appreciate them! What makes them feel best in all the world?

I like connecting with people a lot, and it would be nice to track the ways in which I might make a difference in other people’s lives. It would certainly be easier to remember and be useful to more people, that way! Plus, I wouldn’t feel so forgetful. ;}

Where’s my perfect software? Simple, easy to search, easy to keep open. Journler would work, but it has so many other features. Interesting how craving a simple purpose makes me steer clear of complex offerings. Hey, Highrise could still work.

I’ll think about it for awhile.

Here are some questions and speculations for a Thursday evening.

Has anyone gone around to talk to the homeless in Austin, and published their stories in blog format? Even a limited site or an ebook would be amazing. I’ve looked for this project, certain that someone must have done it before I thought of it, but I’m not finding anything. Pictures, comments, yes—extended interactions and stories, no. How can we help more people without resources communicate with a larger portion of the world? What would they say, if we gave them a stage?

What about the people who aren’t homeless, but still spend time at intersections asking for change? I wonder what stories they’d tell. (Somebody should ask!)

Who are the men who wait outside places like Home Depot for people to come and offer them work for the day? What kind of work are they looking for? Why are they there—and what series of events brought them to that pursuit? What do they do every day? What do they need? What would their perfect job be? What are they best at? What work makes them feel good, and proud?

How can we connect these seekers with work that needs to be done in such a way that all parties benefit? How can we find a solution that serves the community, too?

Why is it that those without the resources to pay for what they need are often so disorganized, or so confused about what they want, that I can’t actually help them? How can I posse up with someone whose primary pastime is helping others to identify the elements of their situation and clarify the next steps that would have the biggest impact on their ability to succeed?

This person should be someone who thinks outside of the box—and someone who often suggests next steps that I am particularly clever with.

How many people could we help then!?

At some indeterminate point in the last few years, I began to feel emotions much more strongly than I used to. Most of the time, they’re normal. But more and more, they rise like a tide, or hit me like a wave. (WHACK! Broadsides me.)

The really amazing ones are about people. An urge to connect with someone—to get to know them better, to find out what makes them who they are. A realization or an epiphany, like suddenly understanding something that hadn’t occurred to me before. Or last night, in the car, when I had this flash of insight: Em and I are both doing what means something to us. We’re doing what feels powerful and right. I thought about that from the perspective of my parents, and I thought about how many people never do that thing, in their whole lives... and I felt an overwhelming pride, that I’m part of this family, that I’m doing what I do, that I have a sister like her, and that we have parents that—for all our collective domestic flaws—raised us to be the kind of people we are. Whatever that actually means.

And that we’re only going to grow from here.

Music is a powerful emotional trigger for lots of people, but it’s gotten much bigger for me. Old music, new music. Em’s work is becoming a large part of the ongoing soundtrack of my aspirations to world domination, slowly but surely. And usually the music that moves me is about people. Connections, plans, urges, motivations. There are so many subtle pieces that fit together in complex ways, and I often feel like I can hear all of them. They all have an effect on me.

So why is this happening? There’s obviously a difference from even just a year ago. Maybe I’m growing up. It could have a lot to do with food: I’ve certainly been eating progressively better over the last several years, and I’m more solidly whole-fresh-produce now than ever. (I’ve read enough about food changing one’s perception of the universe that I think that’s a pretty good bet, right there.) I’ve also been making incredible in-roads in terms of learning about and understanding myself and other people. I’m doing things, now, that have great purpose for me, that make me feel something. And let’s not forget that I’ve been off birth control for at least a year and a half. (Hormones, anyone?) There are lots of explanations—and maybe all of them have a part in it.

Whatever the reason, it’s increasing steadily. Maybe I will be an emotional experience superhero by this time next year. The thing that bothers me, though, is that I’m not sure what to do with it. It’s fascinating (sometimes exhilarating) to experience, but other than leveraging it to motivate me to bigger and bigger pursuits (which I do), I almost feel like it’s not useable. Is that not enough? Is there something else?

There’s this part, too: I am wanting more and more connection, and I am less and less patient with my inability to communicate what I’m feeling. How do you tell someone you’re that proud of them? How do you tell someone you value them that much? Words fail me.

Maybe I just need new words…?

You know, I meant to write up one post about the new links in my sidebar, and look what happened! You see, the problem here is just that they’re all too awesome. I can’t fit any of them into the paragraphs I wrote, much less a few sentences that would have allowed me to make one freaking list. Man. The perils of knowing amazing people…

This is the last post, anyway.

It’s about Triiibes, as you may already have surmised. And I can’t link you to the Triiibe—but I can tell you about it.

The reason I can’t link you is because unless you’re already a member, you can’t get in. It hasn’t (to my knowledge) been decided yet whether it will become visible to the public eventually, and I’m leaving that up to the folks in the know. Membership sounds like it will continue to be closed except for limited invites, so that’s right out. But man, the things that happen in there are so awesome. I can’t keep them quiet.

Well. Most of them. Well. Some of them. ;}

Seth Godin started the whole shebang with a barrier to entry: Pre-order Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, sight unseen. Thousands of us did so, leaping in with both feet and shrieking new marketing battle cries. (At least, that’s what I did…) The result is one of the most amazing communities I’ve ever belonged to.

Pace and Kyeli are both members. Cricket is a member now, too, and Marty shouldn’t be far behind (if we’re lucky!). Havi’s a member—and I wouldn’t know about her at all if it wasn’t for Triiibes. For some vast cosmic reason, everything is falling into place for me… and a large part of it is this group of people.

What does Triiibes do? Well, we wrote an ebook. (It’s great.)

We talk a lot—about business, people, the concept of tribes, Seth’s book, marketing, changing the world, making a difference, making something amazing. Triiibes is what Zaadz / Gaia should have been, but couldn’t possibly have managed. It took a closed social network and a readership the quality of Seth’s to accomplish that! Not to mention the quality of leadership Seth exhibits himself, and his ability to bring out the leader in everyone else… that’s something amazing. (Read this book if you have any doubt.)

We’re working on something new, but my lips are zipped—for now. ;}

There’s still more. Being a member of the Triiibe has taught me a ton about tribes in general (and often, in specific). It’s teaching me about community projects and the organic nature of what can be mundanely called “teamwork” but takes on a huger, more significant stature when considered in all of its complexity and variety and spontaneity. It’s teaching me about people, and how many of us are insanely brilliant, full of incredible possibility and potential. I’m talking about the members of Triiibes, but I’m talking about you, too. Triiibes is showing me what the world is capable of, and it is really something.

Triiibes isn’t just a social network. Maybe it started out that way, but it mutated fast. It’s a real tribe now, with people who are truly connected to one another. Joe and I and at least a dozen other people were discussing the question of whether there is a spiritual aspect to the Triiibes community, and I found myself saying this:

I think that the Triiibe IS spiritual, in many ways. It’s the spirit of connection and working together. It’s the spirit of being many parts of a whole, organic and astonishing in millions of different ways. It’s the passion that we feel about the ideas we share, and the willingness (the yearning, even) to help others before thinking of ourselves. Take a look at how we interact, all together, without ever having met, how we already know one another and love one another and care about every person in here. The intensity of this varies across the Triiibe, but it’s there in spades. And it’s amazing. And it’s much more powerful than any church I ever belonged to. This vibration is its own animal, and I would hesitate to say that it lacks spirituality.

It grows and learns and becomes bigger. Not the number of members—the energy and the soul of the connected community. It’s… really spiritual!

It’s all in how you look at the thing. In this case, the thing is great. Not like “this cereal is great!” but instead, This vibration we’ve created, this awe-inspiring bit of a vast connected universe, we are tapping into something truly great. We’re learning more about it all the time.

You know what it is?

It’s just people.

It’s people doing what people can do, which is connect with and raise up and help each other. We are doing it with plans and projects and ideas, but it’s the same. It’s such a joy to be a part of. You should do it too.

You can start any time you want!

If I could only ask you to do one thing for me, for a span of about twenty minutes, all week, all month, I would ask you to please watch this video. It’s possible that this feels so profound to me because of material and ideas I’ve already begun to process, but I just can’t pass up the possibility that you might feel the same. So if you feel like trusting me for a small chunk of your time, this one, this one right here is what I’d choose for you.