Don't Miss Out: Stop & Listen To The Music

Do you really like bands simply because you dig them and not because trendy radio stations or myspace prompts tell you that you should like them?  Do you take the initiative and seek out "the moments" that really matter in life?  Do you stop to smell the roses?  Do you pause to listen to the music?

If you do (and even if you don't, but wish you did), then you will love this story, recommended to me via my wise, lovely, and intuitive friend, Rachel. I think that it is such a beautiful lesson in learning to appreciate and soak up the world around us. To listen to our own instincts and not rely on others to tell us what is "right" or what is "wrong;" what is "cool" or what is "uncool;" what is "legendary" and what is "trivial."

Be yourself and think for yourself; nobody can tell you that you are doing it wrong.

Stop to enjoy life around you whenever the opportunity arises - who knows when you will get the chance to enjoy something so fantastic again!

**Below is a synopsis of the original story that ran in The Washington Post**

Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007.  He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately two-thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the till and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes: a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes: a 3 year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.

45 minutes: the musician played. Only six people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.
He collected $32.

1 hour: he finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded. Only one woman recognized him.

It seemed that no one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by The Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments...how many other things are we missing?