Joshua Bell played violin in a D.C. subway in 2007. Only seven of 1,100 commuters stopped to listen. The experiment shows how we miss extraordinary beauty in everyday moments because we're not paying attention to what's actually in front of us.
The first lesson is simply to recognize that life happens here, right here in this moment. Whatever this moment is, life happens here in spite of the fact that sometimes we feel like this, right? It's always this moment. It's always this moment. And you know, there's not a better illustration that I know of than an experiment that was done by the Washington Post a few years ago. And some of you may have heard about this. They sent a young violinist named Joshua Bell into a Washington, D.C. subway station. Joshua is a virtuoso violinist, amazing talent. So they sent him in there and the experiment was what if we send this young man in there, this brilliant concert violinist, if we have him set up like a street performer. Would anybody notice? The video is on YouTube and over 4 million people have seen it. We'll watch a little bit of it here in a moment. But that's Joshua Bell there. And you can see him. He's right over there set up next to a trash can. Pretty modest means for a guy that just a few nights before was performing in the sold-out Boston Symphony Hall. And the pretty good seats went for $100 each. But here he is in this Washington, D.C. subway station. Would anybody notice? Would anybody care? Because, you know, a subway station is— I live in Nashville, we don't have a subway there, but I've been in a subway before, as I'm sure you have. And when you go through a subway station, it's a place you're getting from point A to point B, right? It's not a place you typically think of, "Oh, this is beautiful. This is the moment. This is life." No, when you go through a subway station, you're going like this to get from point A to point B. You've got some place to be. And I'm sure the people who were going through that subway station had been through there hundreds, if not thousands of times on the way to work. Because this was rush hour on a Friday morning. Well, Joshua Bell was there for about 45 minutes, a little less. And in that time, almost 1,100 people passed through. And can you guess how many people actually paused to listen to Joshua Bell? How many people noticed? Anybody? 1, 2— 7. 7. So they were better than expected. 7 people stopped for longer than 60 seconds. So we're not talking about a long time here. They just paused for longer than 60 seconds. But there is a moment of life that was missed. This seemingly mundane experience, but there was literally music there. But there's always music, there's always beauty. It's about whether or not we see it. This is a quote from Brené Brown, who happens to be right here in Houston. I love Brené's work and writing, but she says, "I don't have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness. It's right in front of me if I'm paying attention and practicing gratitude." That's where this moment matters. We're living as if this moment matters. That's where it begins.
Shawn Ellis | Choose Your Ending™ — Radical Adaptability Keynote Speaker Highlights
