Here’s another musical posting!  The latest online craze is the Harlem Shake, where people record (mostly) 30-second clips of the dance.  It always starts with one lone head-geared dancer amongst a sea of normalcy and switches quickly to a room full of movers and shakers.  I can’t help but smile!  The video above is one of the tamer workplace versions, but some get pretty wild and/or funny.

For me, this is a perfect opportunity to reflect on:

—the positive; what makes people happy, if only for a brief moment, but has a lasting effect afterwards.

—the awe of a worldwide sense of community; these videos were created in places where anyone had a video camera.  On a small scale, it builds camaraderie amongst the people in each video.  On a grand scale, it’s a shared positive experience amongst strangers who otherwise may not have things in common.  Sure beats war.

In recent days, my in-laws have enjoyed music at sunset on a beach in California.   The musicians are there for the pure enjoyment of making music for others to experience, an offering of sorts to everyone in their community.  This old piano has been put out for pickup—and a pickup of another sort occurred.  Other musicians have joined in, a bassist, guitarist, saxophone, etc.  It’s unplanned events like these that remind us of beautiful happenings in the world.   Sadly, this will be short lived when the piano goes to heaven.  For a brief moment in time, it fulfilled its destiny.  

Check out this article that offers some ideas on how to find creative inspiration, as suggested by some well-known artists…

Random Thought:  Ever notice how they never really ask non-artists?  How do “non-creative” folks find inspiration?  The good news is, any one of us can become an artist, and we can all agree that everyone could use creative inspiration regardless of their walk of life.  Still, I wonder how people in other fields would answer this...