I was driving to work this morning when I stopped at a busy junction for the traffic to clear. While I had music playing at decent decibels, I felt a small nudge to my car from behind. As I turned around, I saw an auto driver close by asking me to come out of the car. I did not take the bait and waited for him to come forward. As he moved forward, he tried to open my car door. I lowered the window slightly and asked him the reason for the morning gift. When he started the conversation in an abusive tone, I tapped my forehead gently, raised my windows and began driving, leaving him a bit shell shocked. But with the passage of time, my calmness turned into agitation. The mind kept coming back to his abusive language and questioned my willingness to walk away even though I knew it was the right thing to do. Despite everything, it took a while to shake away his impression and find my smile.

There’s something about the word, impressions, isn’t it. It has character and life of its own; as if it exists in real, belonging like the rest of us. It is a moment of impact one has on others; it can be as simple as a truth, melancholy or laughter in someone’s eyes, something spoken that captures the mind or someone’s mannerisms. The first impression is always like a window; it can rather paint a picture that is sometimes hard to erase even though first impressions are rather deceptive. The thoughts that take shape over a period of time can sometimes change the perception that was framed during the first interaction. It could be because people are not always transparent or comfortable from the word go. Who you are and what’s inside is known only to you and very few have the ability or courage to reveal themselves to the world where they possess the strength to love and be loved or hate and be hated.   

Yesterday, someone asked me an interesting question. She wanted to know if life can be lived without biases and if we can trust people on face value? My initial response was that it is possible provided one finds a way to let go of the hurt of betrayal. What I did not reveal at the time was that there’s no process or training one can undertake to deal with hurt. If you’re hurting, then, the feeling stays with you as long as it has not taught you what you need to learn from it. At least, that’s how I have understood the feeling. Most of us close that valve of the heart that lets people in when the hurt becomes frequent and unbearable. But with time, we learn to build some discipline around how we are with people, those we know and also those we don’t. But free spirit is something we all seek and I envy those who have that in their genetic makeup. Life is an exploration to them and they have the courage to accept the terms and conditions in which it comes without any regrets. Even when they have tears in their eyes, they’ll carry a smile on their lips.       

Our life is an assembly of impressions we carry; an understanding of people and events that we like and dislike. The shape of these impressions generate our vibes to the universe out there every day. Vibes that either help build everlasting friendships or find an elusive love or build a better understanding of yourself. As time passes me by, I spend time consciously with the impressions I carry to find the ones I need and sunset the ones I don’t. That keeps me sane, simple and above all balanced.