Giving and receiving recognition is a powerful tool used by successful people. Parents and teachers who recognise the talents of children always bring out the best in them. Employers who give  recognition have loyal staff.

People live up to or down to our expectations of them. Recognising their good will bring it out in them.Recognising the negative will draw that forward. We influence everything around us with our thoughts.

The story below shows how little we recognise others or beauty that surrounds us. We are so focussed on survival, we have little time for thriving.

“A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

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

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but 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. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 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. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at 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 priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?”

Anyone see the message here? How often are we so busy being busy we fail to recognise the beauty that is everywhere? How limited have our lives become that we rush from one stressful situation to the next with hardly the time to breath.

Giving and receiving recognition is life changing, To be in a situation where another person acknowledges us, energetically connects and says I See You is profound.  A smile to a stranger is suicide prevention. 

A simple smile, a look, an act of respect, letting another car into the traffic flow, helping someone carry a heavy bag is recognition. Looking for the gold instead of focusing on the overburden.

Imagine how much better each person would have felt if they had taken the time to stop and listen, for free, to one of the world’s great musicians. Consider how different our lives will be when we stop and focus on the beauty that is everywhere.

What would happen to our depression, anxiety, loneliness, our self induced illnesses? It is not rocket science, the answer may be as simple as  Stop and Smell the Roses.