It has really been a long time since I shared a post for Weekend Coffee Share. I have missed having coffee with you all. Let’s take a nice coffee break and catch up!
If we were having coffee I would ask you what does it take to find harmony in our lives? When we think of harmony, many of us think of musical notes played by instruments or sung with voices.
Another definition of harmony suggests “agreement or accord.” Synonyms of harmony that resonated with me include friendship, rapport and cooperation.
“Eat healthily, sleep well, breathe deeply, move harmoniously.”
― Jean-Pierre Barral
Harmonious Play
I bring up this idea of Harmony today to illustrate the theme of the weekly photo challenge. The above photo shows my students on the climbing wall at the challenge course at Sacramento State University, where we recently took part in team-building and challenge activities. While performing these activities, students built rapport, demonstrated cooperation, and became friends with each other; a seemingly rare occurrence these days while in college.
As the students take their turns climbing the wall, another group of students works in perfect harmony belaying with rope to support each climber. Working in harmony is critical to the success of the climb and, well, to avoid serious injury.
After a wonderful day building relationships and overcoming challenges, the students gathered for a silly group photo. Harmonious indeed.
Harmonious Blogs
If we were having coffee, I would remind you how much in harmony we as bloggers can be as we develop our relationships. With writing and story-telling in common, bloggers build rapport and cooperation with each other in many ways.
I recently had the distinct honor of guest posting for Hugh’s Views and News. His blog features bloggers each month and my blog is featured for the month of March. Somewhere along the way, Hugh and I developed rapport as bloggers and have regularly shared each other’s posts. From my end, it is not difficult to do, since his blog is truly wonderful to read. Please visit when you get a chance. I have met and followed several fabulous bloggers as a result of his monthly feature.
Another way bloggers build relationships is by using social networking to share each other’s blogs. Whether you pin someone’s image from a post or share on Twitter and Facebook, taking a few moments to do so helps get the message of a great post out to other readers. If you haven’t tried or used Stumble Upon, I highly recommend this sharing tool.
What makes Stumble Upon unique is you cannot share your own blog content. You can, but doing too much may mark your blog page as spam. This is where building rapport and relationships with your fellow bloggers comes in. “Stumbling” a blogger’s post to your account adds that post to your list of websites you like or approve. I am now in the habit of stumbling many of the posts I read every day. Several other bloggers regularly stumble my posts as well. To give you an example, one recent weekend, my blog stats shot up to over 500 page views with 300 coming just from Stumble Upon. And it was on a day after I had published the post! Take a look at my page for more information.
Creating harmony in the blogosphere takes time and commitment to blogging, by sharing each other’s posts, reading, liking, and leaving comments. How will you find or create harmony in your life today?
Looking for a great group of friends with which to chat over coffee and other wonderful beverages? Join Part-Time Monster’s blog each week and share your thoughts.
Second Wind Leisure Perspectives 
What is YOUR perspective? Please include your name if WP identifies you as “anonymous.