Mirror-Mirror on the wall

https://socialist-today.com/opinion/mirror-mirror-on-the-wall-872

There is always a special mirror which is our most trusted mirror. We trust it more than other mirrors in our home and no matter how much time we spend getting ready in front of other mirrors, we tend to go to our trusted mirror and take a peek at our reflection to be sure.

Our man, Shobhit, watched himself in his trusted mirror every day. Shobhit was a confident young man but he had to look at his reflection in his trusted mirror every morning to be able to walk confidently in public. If because of any reason he could not look at his reflection in this mirror than he would keep feeling awkward about his appearance all day.

This mirror was installed in the balcony and being in the common area, it was used by other family members as well. So, the usual squabbling between him and his sister Shalu was a usual affair every morning when they both got ready for college. It was Shobhit’s favourite mirror so he always argued with Shalu for the right to first use but she being the naughty sister she was, she would always make it a point to stand in front of the mirror before Shobhit just to annoy him. 

Shobhit would stand in front of it for hours and admire his reflection. If the mirror was occupied by Shalu, he would reluctantly dress up, comb his hair, apply Gel in front of the other mirror in the house and then the moment his trusted mirror was free, he would quickly rush and look at his reflection in it; just to be sure that the other mirror wasn’t lying. He did this every day before leaving for college, without fail, but one day he noticed that his shoulders were not balanced. He trusted the mirror so much that he believed that his shoulders were indeed not balanced; one was up while the other was down that is. He started feeling bad about himself, 'o, I don't have balanced shoulders. People will laugh at me.’

Henceforth he made it his mission to walk with balanced shoulders. He would stand in front of his trusted mirror, balance his shoulders and try to walk the same way. No matter how much he was tired he would always put pressure on the left shoulder to keep it up and keep the right shoulder down to balance them. Initially, it was hard. While keeping the shoulders under pressure he would feel pain and cramps but soon it became a habit. Soon, hard work paid and he started noticing in his trusted mirror that his shoulders were now balanced. He was happy. He shared his joy with his mother as well.

One day, because of repair in the balcony he could not use his trusted mirror for days so he looked in a different mirror while getting ready. and saw that his shoulders were still unbalanced.

‘This mirror must be crooked,’ he mumbled with distrust looking at his reflection in the other mirror.

‘It can't be possible this mirror is lying,’ he mumbled again.

‘I must go to my trusted mirror,’ he said and rushed towards the drawing-room. He opened the balcony door in the drawing-room. The balcony was retrofitted with new glass railing, designer tiles, which were still wet, and a jazzy chandelier. He carefully walked over the freshly installed tiles towards his mirror which was covered with a sheet to avoid damage due to construction. There was rubble on the washbasin as well. He uncovered his trusted mirror and looked at his reflection with anticipation but to his utter surprise, even his trusted mirror showed that his shoulders were not balanced. He held the mirror in his hands and screamed, 'WHY ARE YOU LYING?'

His mother walked in and found him crying and enquired about what was wrong. Shobhit narrated the entire incident. His mom smiled.

‘Why are you smiling mom?’ asked Shobhit. She got up and walked towards the mirror and adjusted the mirror on the wall.

‘Look at your reflection now,’ she said smiling.

Shobhit got up and looked at his reflection. He was surprised to see that his shoulders were now straight. He looked at his mom with a confused look.

‘This mirror has always have had issues. The hooks are loose and every now and then the position changes even with a slight touch,’ she said.

‘so, earlier when you saw that your shoulders were unbalanced it was only because the position of the mirror had changed,’ she continued as Shobhit looked on.

‘You trusted this mirror so must that whatever you saw in it also affected you mentally and physically as well. Even though your shoulders were balanced you started putting pressure on your shoulders and you started walking with unbalanced shoulders just because the mirror told you so.’

‘So, when you walked in front of the other mirror it showed you the true picture of you walking with one shoulder down and the other one up but you felt that it was lying to you.’

‘The mirror reflects exactly what you are and what you are thinking. If you are confident it reflects a confident you and if you are low on confidence then it precisely reflects that.’

‘Son, you need to trust yourself first before trusting what others think about you,’ she said as Shobhit hugged her.

*****

Just like this mirror, we all have people in our lives that we tend to blindly trust more than even ourselves. Their opinion about us matters a lot and we end up spending most of our time and effort trying to please them. We live our lives to be appreciated by them and their appreciation, even if it’s a plain lie, matters most to us.

You might be a student or a professional, but know that such people do more harm than good to you and your life. Because of these people, we all tend to ignore and lose the real people who matter to us.

People tend to behave the way we want them to behave with us and our reflection through their behaviour and reactions is nothing but our behaviour. Change your act now, change it for better, change it for whenever it is you seek to achieve. So, stop cribbing that you were mistreated by an interviewer or that someone is bullying you or that a colleague mistreated you in office and change your behaviour now. Exhibit positive emotions to manifest positive body language.

Remember, that your reflection in the mirror and people around you will be as beautiful and confident as you are.