Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Even now when I look in the mirror the line, ‘Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all’, echoes in my mind. Like most of the children fairy tales too became my first read and 'Snow White' was one of the stories I read. 

At that time all that story taught me was not to accept treats from strangers and occurrence of happily ever after in the end. But now I realize that the story had a deeper hidden meaning in it. The Evil Witch too had a message to deliver and it was all hidden in her ‘Mirror Mirror on the Wall’ line. 

I now began to ponder the magic powers of that mirror. Did that mirror have some programming to tell the fairest or most beautiful maiden in the world. Can there really be a measure for beauty? Is there a set criteria to point to the most beautiful? 

I think not. 

There is a saying though, ‘Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder’. For the witch she was the fairest maiden until Snow White grew up. Now does this mean that only Snow White was the fairest maiden? What about other princesses of that time? Weren’t they displayed to be as beautiful as Snow White? Why only then did the magic mirror feel justified in showing Snow White as the fairest? 

But what if, we always thought wrong. Maybe the mirror’s power was not to judge the fairest of them all, but to reflect the user's thoughts and emotions. What if the mirror was just reflecting the evil witch’s fears. The evil witch had always been jealous of her step daughter’s beauty and that’s why she forced her into rags. 

For the evil witch, the sole competitor was Snow White. She never bothered about any other maiden who might be even fairer than Snow White. The witch planned to remove Snow White and become the fairest of them all.

The irony here was that the evil witch, instead of using her magic to turn into more beautiful, became an old hag so that she can deliver the cursed apple to Snow White. As funny as the evil witch's action may seem, don’t we experience it in real life too.

Now, we all may not have a magic mirror but our minds kind of perform the same task. We have an inbuilt list to determine the best person around us and we keep struggling to beat them. We make our beautiful lives a petty race in which we can only win by pulling the other down. 

We ask our mind mirror, “Mirror mirror in my mind, who is the most intelligent child?”. We then locate the class topper. Then we aim at achieving more marks than them. 

In this foolish quest we forget that the highest marks will always be 100%. Instead of aiming at 100% people find it easier to catch up on the higher marks which might be 95% only. 

We ask the mirror who is the prettiest/ most handsome and we aim to be like them. Sometimes we think like the evil witch and feel justified in removing the people ahead of us so as to be better. 

We too forget what it is like to make oneself better. Our target is to be like the other person, not better ourselves. We forget we can only become a better version of ourselves. Our aim should be to perform our best. Break our previous record. 

In the recent Olympics USA and China have won scores of medals whereas India won only seven medals. Still we rejoice and party over our success as this is our best performance ever in the Olympics. 

A change in our mindsets really does wonders. Winning never matters, it is how you participate which shows your true excellence. You need to put in your best. 

When you give your best then the result should not haunt you. Our mind mirror reveals someone else because we think that they are the best. Like the evil witch we also forget to consider all the other competitors spread throughout the country or this world. 

What will happen if one Snow White steps out of your way, then some other Snow White will be there. Would you spend your life terminating them all? If you take this evil path then becoming an ugly hag would be your destiny. 

Jealousy rots us from inside. One should never feel envious of the other's success. Behind every success there’s a struggle filled story. That individual has not tread on a path as yours. Your road is different from the other. Our destination may be the same but we all have different paths to it. 

It is true that the other path may always seem prettier but we always have the power to brighten our path. Whatever path we choose, we just need to move forward. ‘One step at a time, and the next will take you there’. 

We are all never satisfied with whatever we have. Even in a normal mirror we see a flaw - filled person. ‘What if I was a little taller, my eyes are tiny, my complexion, my hair are curly, my nose….’ And the list goes on.

Surely no one thinks themselves to be perfect. Then we start to hate ourselves. 

Hate for oneself is really detrimental. You lose trust in yourself and hopelessness engulfs you. Not only the physical appearance but a person even doubts their intelligence. 

We feel like we would never ever become anything. In this desolate state all the sad moments and failures run like a film reel. Sadness attracts sadness and in such a dark filled world only positivity can bring you out. 

You need to summon those positive feelings. Remember the times when you enjoyed life and feel them coming just around the corner. 

I know it is difficult, telling yourself that you are wonderful but it’s the only way for encouragement. Like on a cold winter morning you coax yourself to leave the warm bed similarly you need to leave the hatred behind. Why to hate your own self?

#Just Love your body as your soul and body have to live together for this life. People will cross your path even walk along you for sometime but till the very end only your body will remain you. Embrace it as for this lifetime it is your partner. You can work to hone your body but never hate it because if your body is gone then the poor soul has to start over all again. 

We covered this much in our body, by giving it some love and respect we might reach the end. Have faith in your capabilities and they surely will come into action at the right time.

In the end, I will just say that when you feel really low then face a normal plane mirror. Close down your Mind Mirror. 

Ask that normal mirror, “Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the most beautiful/ most intelligent/ best player/ best writer/ best dancer/ best singer/ best painter...of them all?”

And we all know by the Laws of Reflection to guess what the answer would be.