On Being Present

It’s ironic that in our quest to find the perfect present people sometimes render themselves completely ‘absent.’

Racing around, over-scheduling, over-spending, eating fast food instead of what nourishes us…YIKES!  How many ways can we use “creating to perfect holiday” to numb ourselves and detach?

I’ve run this video before but it touches me enough to repeat on Christmas Eve day – partly because it’s a reminder that many of us can use every day and partly because I counted more that two dozen SPECIAL LAST MINUTE GIFT OFFERS in my inbox this morning.  Enough already!

Granted, I’ve been told that I’m not aggressive enough with my marketing.  Maybe I’m not.  But I won’t lie and call myself “the world’s leading expert” on anything.  I believe in what I do and what I write. But most importantly, I believe in you.  And I think it’s just rude to smack you in the face with one more commercial.

So, here you go…  enjoy.

A man played his violin in the subway.  He played for 45 minutes while more than a thousand people passed through on the way to work. Fewer than ten of those people stopped. About 30 put money in his case, netting him a little over $32.

The musician was the world-famous Joshua Bell, playing the same music he plays in concert halls where tickets sell for $100 each. The instrument he used is valued at more than $3 million. Washington Post writer Gene Weingarten was the mastermind behind the experiment. The Post received a Pulitzer for the story.

Weingarten’s questions had to do with perception of quality, choices and priorities. People familiar with the story have also asked ‘If we are too busy to notice a world class musician, what else are we missing?’

My point?

Are there wonderful things that are going on right under our noses?  Stop. Take a deep breath. Notice. Enjoy.  Be more present.  That’s a gift you can give every day.