A former student of mine sent me this and I used it in class as a Critical Thinking Exercise.
What do you see?
Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx 2 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.
Four 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 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.
One hour; he finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition. He collected $3.
Not too surprising, don't you think? We've probably all seen something like this happen before, right? Maybe...
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 peoples 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?
What we pay attention to isn’t always deserving of it. We could be missing the blossom of a wild rose.
Interesting, isn't it? I broadened the discussion to include what happens to we MTs if we neglect to pay attention. What do we miss? I've known many MTs that never have time to take a vacation, or work seven days a week, or go in to work on a single client on a day they were supposed to be off. Are we too busy?
It's important to take the time out to recharge your batteries or you'll burnout quick. Massage therapy is a demanding profession, one in which we must don our professional mask and play the part for our clients. We create a client-centered practice, but what about us? Do we get too drained from giving that we have no more to give? Are we too focused on what we need to do to make our practice thrive that we forget who we are, why we're doing it, or what is really important? Maybe that is related to the change in motivation I discussed last week.
How many of us have experienced something wonderful, something beautiful that happened spontaneously? I'm sure all of us. In our rush to create our practices, our futures, and to control our world, we can also unintentionally plan "out" the room for spontanaiety and appreciation of the unexpected. Don't be so present in your practise that you cease to be present in the moment!
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