Silent Spectator

One day my teenage niece was standing in front of the mirror and admiring herself. She told to herself: “Oh! I look so good in the mirror, then why is my picture not that pretty?” If that question was asked to an adult, she would have received an answer stating, “some people have a photogenic face, and some don’t.” But she just asked herself and walked away. This made me think what she told is actually true. We dress up and make sure we look our best while we stand in front of a camera and still picture taken is not always as per our expectation. Give it a thought before you read further because below is my perception which might give you a new perspective.

When I look at a picture of mine, the emotions behind that sometimes speaks to me. If there was a sad or angry memory, they scream louder than any happy memory. I will also like myself in the picture if I see it from my eyes like I do in the mirror and I may or may not like myself if I am seeing it from the eyes of people around me while the picture was taken or/and while I am seeing it again. Most of the time memory making us sad leaves a deeper scare but happiness doesn’t leave its mark behind. So, I call happiness as the silent spectator in life. We will be happy only if we pay attention to positivity. It is always there around us, but we are so engrossed to look for noise that we miss out on the silence.

We all would have heard the concept of a glass half full. Everyone has their own explanation and the most common one is an optimist looks at half full and a pessimist looks at half empty. The concept with the glass is not about identifying empty or full, it’s about embracing what we see and have. When I was in college my mother planned to gift a dress for me on my birthday. Concept of surprises never existed in our house. So, it was something different for her. She is a person who doesn’t go out anywhere without a company and most of the time her company is me. On my birthday, she told she has some work and stepped out. To her surprise, I did not ask anything. When she came back with the dress, more than seeing my excitement she was eager to get an answer from me, why I did not question her when she told me that she was going out alone. We tend to see what annoys us more than what goes smoothly. I accepted when my mother told, “I am going out.” But my mother was unable to accept that her daughter did not observe the change in her of stepping out alone especially when I am sitting idle at home. Acceptance is the key to happiness.

There are a lot of saying which gives us the inner meaning of silence: “Silence is Golden”, “Silent is Power” and so on. Silence absorbs all the power because it is happily observing everything and seeing who embraces it with a smile. We are told meditation gives us inner peace and helps us see ourselves with purity. This is nothing but the silent spectator who keeps accompanying us all through our life.

Happiness is always the flip side of the coin. It is there with us, but we fail to realise and only keep looking at the other side and ask “why me?” When we hold the coin right in front of us the person standing in front of us sees the other side which is the happiness. So we always end up thinking “how happy they are!” I believe every instance has a silent spectator within it and it only waits for us to notice it. Even when you say the glass is half empty, you do have an opportunity to say, “I get the chance to fill it then”. Looking at half empty doesn’t make you a pessimist neither looking at half full makes you optimist. A person who sees it half full might think, “I wish I had an empty glass to add what I want. Now I am stuck with what is given to me and I don’t like it”. Empty and full both did exist in the glass but what you saw is not what makes the difference, how you perceived what you saw makes the difference. Similarly, happiness co-exists with sadness, it is how you perceive what you have makes the difference. When I say happiness is a silent spectator it is because, negative emotions have a more stronger pull towards them than positive does. We feel sad when someone is sad, but we think twice to be happy when others are happy.

Being happy is a choice. When you disregard something, it makes noise and when you accept something it brings peace. Look around and accept what you have. Let the silent spectator be at your watch always.

Silence can be a speculator
Silence can be a spectator
Don’t let this silent spectator become a speculator of silence.
Learn to embrace what comes, what stays, what lives and what leaves.
Happiness resides in everything and waits for you to choose itself.
Embrace this spectator who knows to embrace happiness.