Lets put your perception to the test! Have a look at the picture below.

What do you see? Is it a young woman 20 -25 years old with a petite nose that is well dressed, maybe going to a party?
Or do you see an old woman 75 to 85 years old
with a larger nose and a dominant chin?

The first time I was introduced to this picture I remember thinking that either I am crazy or everyone around me is. I saw an old woman with a big nose 80 plus years old. The others saw a beautiful young woman with a petite nose, well dressed in a fur coat.

I thought my friends have either gone mad or they are pulling my leg. After discussing it for few minutes we started to see each others point of view and as it turned out we were all right. We just saw the picture from different perspectives or as you may say "with different eyes".

If you can't see both women scroll down for couple of hints...

This exercise brings up more questions than the answers about what do we see and how. However the most important question is this;
Do we see with our eyes, or do we see through our eyes?
What I mean by that is this - are we pre-programmed to see our world in a certain way?
In the other words, do we see things as we believe they should be by our own beliefs, rather than as they are in reality?

One of the lessons from this exercise should be that we shouldn't jump to conclusions about other peoples views too quickly.

“I know what I know and I see what I see” attitude should be replaced by,“Tell me what you see and why" attitude.

In my view, it is indisputable that there is a good chance that both parties may enrich their knowledge and view by exploring the other party's perspective.

But the first step in this shift of perception is that we must be able to accept the fact that we could be wrong and that our eyes are not able to detect what we don’t believe to be true.

P.S. If you still don’t see the old woman here is the hint.
The necklace of the young woman is the mouth of the old one and the cheek of the young woman is the nose of the older woman. Do you see it now?

Have a great day,

Tibor Bogdan

Something To Think About. . .
 
Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin 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.

4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat 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. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but 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 their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest 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 true 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 people's 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 this:
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 ever made.

How many other things are we missing?

Happy 2011 to you all !