Joshua Bell http://www.joshuabell.com/

For those of us who hadn’t already heard this story, as part of a social experiment Joshua Bell was asked by Washington Post writer Gene Weingarten to play his violin in a Washington DC subway station during morning rush hour.  At 7:51 am on January 12, 2007, a few months before he won the Avery Fisher Prize, Joshua Bell stood in a DC subway station in jeans and a long-sleeve T.  He opened up his case, and started playing his 1713 Stradivarius. 

Here’s how the story unfolds…

Washington, DC Metro Station on a Cold January Morning
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 thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. 

Four Minutes Later
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 continued to walk.

6 Minutes
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.

10 Minutes
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.

45 Minutes
In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. He received $32.17 for his 43 minutes playing, not counting the woman who recognized him and gave him a twenty.  And yes, there were a few pennies in his case.  About two thousand people passed by.  In the hustle and bustle of morning rush, few had even stopped to look at him, despite hearing the music. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition. 

The commuters were oblivious to the treat that would have cost them a hefty $100 in a concert hall, if they could find a ticket that is.  And for Weingarten,  he got a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for his Washington Post cover story ‘Pearls Before Breakfast’.  To read this fascinating article, CLICK HERE.

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 his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100. 

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: 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?” 

What place does beauty have in your daily routine?

To help you challenge your beliefs about what you can and cannot do, here are 20 empowering truths to help you ride out the longing to smoke and stopping smoking for good.

Achievable
Coming off cigarettes, changing your way of life—it’s not easy. But it’s not impossible, either.

Accountability
Hold yourself accountable for your actions. At the middle of each day, take a direct and honest assessment about whether or not your current choices feel good to the heart and spirit of who you are. 

Adventure
The road into creating change is quite an adventure. It’s not just about what you are moving away from, but the life, strengths, and empowerment you are moving toward. 

Balanced
Before moving forward, stop, breathe, and let the frustration dissipate. Nothing good comes from having the stress of frustration in the lead. 

Body Care
Coming off cigarettes is an enormous change for your body. Follow through on those gentle nudges to take more care of yourself. Eat healthier foods, drink plenty of water, walk in the sunshine, and breathe. 

Breathe
Make conscious efforts to take slow, deep breaths and practice blowing your troubles away without the smoke of cigarettes. Long, slow, and relaxed. Inhale life, exhale tension. Let go, relax, and repeat. 

Caring
Shift your focus away from “not smoking” toward new ways of loving yourself, taking care of your needs, articulating your desires, and allowing yourself pleasure. 

Change
Quitting involves a change in perspective, attitude, and lifestyle. Give yourself time and opportunity to learn new skills, develop new patterns of behavior, adopt new habits, and build new relationships. 

Choice
Stopping smoking is a very personal matter that ultimately rests on a quiet and private decision you make inside yourself. Nothing can happen without that decision, and everything can happen with it. 

Creativity
Write, dance, sing, draw, design, or decorate. You are much more likely to overcome an urge to smoke when you actively connect your physical body with your creative spirit.   

Dependability
Keep your promises to yourself. Acknowledge excuses as excuses and discover new creative ways to move beyond them. Show yourself that your personal choices are important.    

Destiny
You can change your stars; you can be successful. You are the master of your own destiny, free to make choices today that lead to the life you will lead tomorrow. 

Diversion
When the urge to smoke gets bad, have something to do. Keep your mind busy. Keep your hands busy. Read a book. Write in your journal. Call a friend. Do whatever it takes, but delay, delay, delay. 

Emotional Healing
If you’re using your smoking habit to deal with difficult emotions, such as sadness, depression, or anxiety, then most certainly you’ll find yourself with emotional side effects from quitting smoking. 

Empowerment
Believe in your inner ability to carry you through this challenge. No challenge or obstacle has the power to defeat the inspiration and determination within you. 

Encouragement
Get excited!! Find a way to elevate yourself. Take a higher road.  Rally your inner power when you are at your lowest points by getting excited again about what you want and what you’re moving toward. 

Enjoyment
Smoking is often a desire for carefree enjoyment. If you’re going to give up smoking, you’re also going to have to look for new ways to enjoy yourself. Do not put off joy—do whatever you can to feel good now. 

Expansion
Is it fair that you have to go through this withdrawal period? Maybe not, but fair is not the point. The point is that you want something more for yourself, and what you want is worth your effort. 

Flexibility
Cut back on cigarettes gradually or quit smoking “cold turkey.” Find the method that works best for you. If one way doesn’t work, do the other. 

Focus
List all the reasons you want to quit. Every night before you go to bed, remind yourself of the big picture and the life you are choosing to live.

Remember, millions of people have quit smoking, and you can too! If you are  ready to give up smoking, Quit Cards: Mastery of Smoke Free Life are a perfect inspirational tool to empower your ability to stop the smoking habit. 60 beautiful cards, each with a powerful reflection designed to inspire change and action. Small enough to carry around with you all day long! 

When an urge to light up hits, reach into your pocket, purse, or desk drawer—where your cigarettes used to be—and pull out a card instead. Each intensely inspirational and practical card will help you remain centered and focused so you can kick the smoking habit with grace and ease. 

The healing wisdom contained on each card was carefully selected to activate a large number of habit-changing techniques required to say goodbye to cigarettes forever. Enjoy the freedom of being a non-smoker!

One of the greatest creative gifts that you already have is the power of your imagination. It will take you to grand places and it will align your desires with love. Your imagination forms new potentials about how you want to live your days on Earth, how much joy you want to have, and how much abundance.

Imagination isn’t structured thoughts or a visual picture of what you want. It is an experience of wandering anywhere your heart and soul choose to go. Imagination is a living relationship with what you want. It’s a new potential for a completely new way of experiencing living life, imagined right here in this present moment.

If you are having a difficult day, if you are stuck and don’t know what to do next, if you have depression and darkness, it can be so easy to get sucked deep down into the pit of doubt and despair. Don’t struggle to get out, because struggling only makes matters worse. Don’t get stumped because you don’t know the specific steps of how to get what you want. Rather imagine connecting with the grandness of who you are. Imagine yourself already living the way you would prefer to be living right now.

Imagination works to create a new potential that did not exist before. It’s like a bubble of possibilities that you produce from the inside out. As that potential takes hold and matures, the first step will naturally show itself to you when the time is right.

Imagination is your greatest tool and it’s with you right now. Imagination unlocks the creative energy within that adds spark to your life, along with purpose, new direction, and confidence. Each day make the effort to not focus so intently on the lack of what you most want, but on imagining the potential of, “I can have what I want.” 

Negative thinking does not cause self-doubt. Doubt is a suppression of self. We suffocate who we are, jamming up energy in the body, clouding over vitality, and leaving life dull and passionless. We end up feeling compressed, small, trapped, and stuck. 

The best way out of doubt is to begin going back into yourself, into what you truly know and feel about yourself, and then express it. One way to create this path of self-expression is to use compassionate self-communication. It’s not about eliminating negative thinking, but about being truthful about your current situation, and also supporting yourself in an honestly encouraging way. 

Self-supportive conversations involve talking to yourself, your body, and your mind in a way that you are your own best friend instead of worst enemy. It’s about deciding to believe that you deserve to succeed rather than fail. If you’re filled with doubt about who you are, or why you’re here, reconnect with the truth in your heart. You are safe in this very moment, and tomorrow will come. Breathe, let go, and venture into your heart where you will find the love and calm you seek. You are deserving of feeling good in your body, worthy of focusing on joy, worthy of receiving blessings and abundance.

Each one of us was born with an innate inner wisdom that guides our lives and serves as an inner measure of personal truth. Inner wisdom is that part of us which is beyond our rational, logical and analytical mind. It’s that inner sense of knowing what is right for us, even though there is no advance proof that we’re making the right decision. Inner wisdom is a feeling of peace even within a difficult situation. It’s the clarity we need to help us move through stress or unanticipated challenges. 

Why Do We Feel Disconnected from Our Inner Wisdom?
If inner wisdom is so powerful, why is it often so elusive or difficult to trust? One reason we don’t trust our inner wisdom is because it directs us to make choices that are aligned with independence and autonomy. It is our inner voice leading us down the path of personal meaning and fulfillment, while at the same time leading us away from the most popular, comfortable or safest path. Our inner wisdom guides us away from conformity and control and moves us toward new experiences and choices. 

Inner wisdom is often elusive as a result of years of neglect. Having shut down parts of ourselves, we often place everyone else’s needs and desires above our own, or habitually place personal priorities and dreams at the bottom of our to-do list. With all this busy activity, we may rarely take time to be still, breathe, and tune into our own dreams and inner guidance. 

In addition we have lost faith in our own ability to trust our hearts and bodies. With this loss of faith, we readily turn to outside sources of information above our own inner sense of guidance. For instance, we trust experts telling us what, when and how much to eat, how to take care of our bodies, and even what to think and say. We dismiss our own inner wisdom for the perceived comfort or ease of letting others be responsible for our choices and actions. 

Reconnecting
Although others may have great ideas and suggestions, when it comes to knowing what is best for us, only we know the answers. It is by learning to listen to our inner wisdom that we take back the true direction of our lives. Each of us has the ability and wisdom to make our own decisions, whether or not those decisions fit in with popular positions. 

How do we get back in touch with our inner wisdom? Inner wisdom thrives in an atmosphere of self-love, patience, and acceptance. To listen, we give ourselves permission to hear our inner wisdom and permission to connect with our personal power. In addition, we quiet the mind and gracefully allow our inner wisdom to present itself in an unrushed and unforced naturally flowing manner. 

Often we connect with our inner wisdom in a variety of ways, without even knowing that we do so. For example, inner wisdom shows up in dreams, daydreams, or ideas that come from outside of the logical mind. Inner wisdom can be a meaningful coincidence or synchronicity. Have you ever picked up a book, opened it at random and read a sentence that has a powerful effect on you? Or perhaps turned on the television, flipped through the channels, and then suddenly stopped on a show that seemed to speak directly to you? These are all open avenues of communication from your own inner wisdom to your conscious mind. 

Listening to your inner wisdom is a habit that takes time and patience. To build trust with your inner wisdom, relax and be gentle with yourself. Make time to breathe, set your anxiety, worry, or stress aside, and ask, “What will make me happy?” or, “What is my next best step?” When you hear your answer—which may or may not appear in that exact moment—acknowledge your wisdom and take action. Remember, no one knows better than you what is best for you.

If you are having an especially tough, tough day, check out the five tips below. You can help yourself through a difficult time by following these compassionate, yet tried-and-true strategies. 

Recognize You Are Having a Tough Day
Depression takes away our ability to evaluate ourselves realistically and calmly. When a particularly difficult day arises, it’s hard to have any perspective. In the thick of things, it just seems like you are always—and have always been—sad and hopeless. It’s hard to be rational, calm, or kind to yourself when in this state. 

The solution is to recognize that you are having a difficult day, and that you are currently viewing things through this filter. Recognize this sense of helplessness or hopelessness as a feeling you have had before, and that it’s not one continuous unending feeling that goes on from one endless day into another. By acknowledging and accepting that you are having a bad day, you can put the experience into perspective and treat yourself with extra-special self-caring actions, such as the ones described below. 

Get Up and Begin Your Day
If at all possible, avoid the temptation to stay day in bed all day sleeping, doing nothing, and trying to escape. Overall, numbing out and sleeping all day as an attempted escape strategy only makes things worse. The next day you end up feeling not only depressed, but listless and exhausted and totally out of sync. 

As difficult as it might be, get up and begin your day. It is within your power to do so, even when that power is hard to muster. Get up, take a few conscious breaths, take a shower or at least wash your face, brush your teeth, and put on some clean clothes. It’s tempting to stay in your pajamas or grey sweat clothes all day without brushing your teeth or combing your hair. But making yourself presentable, even when you’re not going out into the world to see anybody, can make you feel like a human being again. 

Call a Friend
There are days during depression when we don’t get dressed, don’t eat well, and are prone to wallow in self-pity. During depression this is completely understandable. But as the leader of your life, and the leader of your depression experience, it’s up to you to find constructive ways to take care of yourself on even the most difficult days. 

One such strategy is to call a friend. Not for a therapy session or because misery loves company, but because being around someone who is not depressed is healing. You don’t have to interact with them or make conversation if you’re not up to it. Just being around someone who is not depressed, or taking a short stroll with them can leave you feeling more stable and able to make it through the day. 

Go Outside
No matter what you are feeling, no matter how difficult your day is, going outside into nature is helpful. Get dressed, go outside, and sit in nature or go for a light stroll. Go out in the yard, see the trees, smell some flowers, or sit by a creek for awhile. Fresh air, the weather, and the earth itself help a lot.

Journal
On an especially difficult day, nothing replaces the value of writing in your journal. Getting your thoughts and feelings onto paper gets them out of you. Writing is a way of dispersing some of the energy that comes with difficult emotions. Keeping a journal is important because it’s something for you and only you. It’s a friend that is always there, a place where you can write about your darkest fears and deepest thoughts. 

Overall, on some days it’s impossible to get it together or feel better. Treat your bad days with respect, and look inside to find the best ways to take care of yourself. Go easy on yourself. The sooner you treat yourself with loving compassion on the bad days, the sooner you can move into better day.  

Are you looking for new ways to end depression? Even if you are angry at yourself for being human and have lost all hope, Depression Freedom http://www.annettecolby.com/depression_freedom.shtml shows the gentle steps you can take to skillfully lead yourself through depression and restore the joy of living. It is impossible to read this book without being changed by it. The inspiration within these pages will captivate you and be the inspiration you need to stop the reign of darkness and embrace a new celebration of life.

Human life will never be understood unless its highest aspirations are taken into account. Growth, self-actualization, the striving toward health, the quest for identity and autonomy, the yearning for excellence (and other ways of phrasing the striving “upward”) must by now be accepted beyond question as a widespread and perhaps universal human tendency. 

And yet there are also other regressive, fearful, self-diminishing tendencies as well, and it is very easy to forget them in our intoxication with “personal growth,”…. We must appreciate that many people choose the worse rather than the better, that growth is often a painful process and may for this reason be shunned, that we are afraid of our own best possibilities in addition to loving them, and that we are all of us profoundly ambivalent about truth, beauty, virtue, loving them and fearing them too.

~  Abraham Maslow ~
 Motivation and Personality (pp.12-13)

On every person’s journey, there is a long road to be traveled. We make life choices that hinge on two aspects, namely: our safety; and our progress or personal growth. As we wander through our life, we must face many obstacles to achieve a life of meaning, fulfillment, and success. Some of these challenges include:

• Choosing growth (and facing pain and fear) over safety.
• Allowing faith in our own destiny.
• Choosing to maximize our potential despite fear and uncertainty.
• Making risky choices outside of our comfort circle.
• Learning from failure.
• Take responsibility for self and let go of blaming others.
• Letting go of righteousness.

Above all else we come to understand that no magical forces will change us. In the end it is our persistence, determination and practice that creates the change our soul seeks.

For any person who has chosen to face their own inner beliefs, fears, and limitations, I acknowledge the courage you have to within you to walk your own path! Belief, patience, and faith will continue to guide you.

On the surface of the world right now there is war and violence and things
seem dark
But calmly and quietly, at the same time, something else is happening
underground
An inner revolution is taking place and certain individuals are being called
to a higher light
It is a silent revolution
From the inside out
From the ground up

It is time for me to reveal myself
I am an embedded agent of an secret, undercover
Clandestine
Global operation
A spiritual conspiracy
We have sleeper cells in every nation on the planet

You won’t see us on the T.V.
You won’t read about us in the newspaper
You won’t hear about us on the radio

We don’t seek any glory
We don’t wear any uniform
We come in all shapes and sizes
Colors and styles

Most of us work anonymously
We are quietly working behind the scenes in every country and culture of
the world
Cities big and small, mountains and valleys, in farms and villages, tribes
and remote islands

You could pass by one of us on the street and not even notice
We go undercover
We remain behind the scenes
It is of no concern to us who takes the final credit
But simply that the work gets done

Occasionally we spot each other in the street
We give a quiet nod and continue on our way so no one will notice

During the day many of us pretend we have normal jobs
But behind the false storefront at night is where the real work takes place

Some call us the “Conscious Army”
We are slowly creating a new world with the power of our minds and hearts
We follow, with passion and joy
Our orders from the Central Command
The Spiritual Intelligence Agency

We are dropping soft, secret love bombs when no ones is looking
Poems
Hugs
Music
Photography
Movies
Kind words
Smiles
Meditation and prayer
Dance
Social activism
Websites
Blogs
Random acts of kindness

We each express ourselves in our own unique ways with our own unique
gifts and talents

“Be the change you want to see in the world”
That is the motto that fills our hearts
We know it is the only way real transformation takes place
We know that quietly and humbly we have the power of all the oceans
combined

Our work is slow and meticulous
Like the formation of mountains
It is not even visible at first glance
And yet with it entire tectonic plates shall be moved in the centuries to
come

Love is the new religion of the 21st century

You don’t have to be a highly educated person
Or have any exceptional knowledge to understand it

It comes from the intelligence of the heart
Embedded in the timeless evolutionary pulse of all human beings

Be the change you want to see in the world
Nobody else can do it for you

We are now recruiting
Perhaps you will join us
Or already have….
All are welcome…
The door is open

-Brian Piergrossi
(From the book “The Big Glow”)

We are living in a time where a higher stage of human awareness is unfolding. A higher consciousness means moving beyond our tried and true ways of seeing the world, and gaining a greater sense of clarity with new insights and understandings. What this really means is that we have reached an age where the old is going, and the new is in the process of being built. There is a future being created that we are all a part of.  

This evolution of change is happening not only around us, but also within us. It’s a transition where we leave behind the sense of “who I am” to become something more.  We release our self-image of needing to be a “good” person, step beyond conformity and structure, and discover our true nature. With this new awareness reality is seen differently and new possibilities emerge. Changes in patterns of thought, emotions, and behavior occur. With higher conscious awareness we allow our light to shine through.   

This transition and transformation is personal and can often be painful. We release the residue left by childhood wounds, the influence of society, and the fears held within to uncover the divinity within. By understanding what is happening to ourselves, humanity, and Earth, we are able collaborate with evolution with a measure of self-assuredness—becoming conscious participants and helping to ease the process. 

Below are several ways that we can lead ourselves into an awakened state of future possibilities and expanded love. 

Pay Attention to Your Senses
Higher consciousness is about being more aware. We’re used to seeing the world around us in a certain way. Increase awareness by keeping your senses open. Look around and seek the possibilities. Listen to the sounds around you, in you, inside and outside. Smell the air in the room and notice if it feels alive or stagnant, warm or cool, heavy or light. 

Look around and notice your surroundings, both near and far. How far out onto the horizon do you typically look? How often do you notice the ants or a tiny grain of sand? What looks different since you last noticed the things around you? Have the plants grown? Are the bookshelves dusty? Notice the different colors, textures, and shapes. Touch a few of the objects around you and notice how they feel.  Slow down and taste your food more fully. Inhale the aroma, enjoy the colors, feel the temperature, and taste the subtle flavors. 

Pay Attention to the Choices that Feel Good and Right to You
We often live our lives on autopilot, doing things the same way because that’s the way we’ve always done them. Our thoughts and actions are reactionary, keeping us locked within the same level of consciousness. To expand your level of awareness, check in with yourself before making your next choice. Do you really want to say “yes” to that unexpected request because it feels right inside of you, or are you saying “yes” because you think you are supposed to? Do you like how your furniture and pictures are arranged, or is it just easier to keep them the way they are? Does your body want to eat that next bite of food… and if so, how do you know? Paying attention to the choices that feel good and right to you is how you learn to trust your heart and your spirit. 

Pay Attention to Nature
Your spirit is the feeling of inner peace that exists beyond your everyday aches, pains, and so called negative emotions. Your spirit is the love that you seek, the connection that you crave, and who you really are. If you are wanting more connection with your authentic self, then being outdoors is a powerful way to nurture your spirit.  Being in nature allows you to see beyond your human condition and remember that there is more going on than the current immediate drama of your life. There is more to who you are than the non-stop mental chatter going on in your head. When we’re in nature, we breathe more deeply. We inhale life and recognize that we are a part of life itself.   

Pay Attention to Your Intuition
We can’t think our way into higher consciousness. It is gained as we embrace and nurture what is authentic within. We step beyond the patterns and cycles of our lives, and move beyond our short-term survival mode by learning how to listen to, and act upon, our intuition. Intuition is our ability to get a sense, understanding, or feeling about something.  Intuition is about making new choices that move you forward into advantageous possibilities. As you pay more attention to your intuition, you are able to make heart-based decisions that lead to greater self-respect, uncover your natural talents, and enrich your relationship with yourself and life. 

Conscious awareness is a feeling of being alive and bringing your spirit into your body, into life, and into humanity. Calmness, peace of mind, and decreased worry, anxiety, and stress are some of the byproducts of becoming more conscious. Follow the steps above and lead yourself into a world of new possibilities and expanded love.

What I am referring to is a shift toward the potential held within each human being, and the importance of growth and self-actualization.  Awakening is a process through which we discover that we are so much more than we think we are.  We each came into this life with a plan and a purpose, one that we often placed on the backburner or forgotten about altogether. Yet this amazing authentic self lies silently inside, waiting for us to awaken and remember why we came here to Earth during this particular time of evolution and change. 

As we heal the confusion and step away from chaos, we begin to wake up. As we place emphasis on making choices that align with our true nature, our spirit comes alive. We begin to remember who we really are. We begin remember what we came here to do. 

Many are willing to make the effort to be introspective and risk discovering if we have the ability to effect change in our own emotions, our own life, and in the world. In the process of introspection we gain increased discernment about recognizing when we rationalize, blame, lie, play victim, or act defensively. We realize where we give away to others the love we most want for ourselves. 

This process of self-awareness leads to forgiveness. We pave the way to an increase in self-worth and self-love, and a growing ability to recognize that we have the freedom to choose how we experience life. We are waking up, wanting to know who we are, and why we are here. 

If you are waking up yourself, then you know it can sometimes be a bumpy ride as we move beyond the rational concrete mind to the not so familiar landscape of intuitive knowing. Remember to breathe consciously, often. Breathing allows you to listen to your inner wisdom. Conscious breathing allows you to slow down and take the time to move beyond reactionary responses, reflect, and gain new perspective. 

Awakening to a higher consciousness is how we connect with our higher purpose and aid humanity at this time of world evolution. It is time for us to step into spiritual awareness and forge a new relationship with life and creation. When we answer the call to our individual awakening consciousness, we play our part in the miracle of life being reborn.