Did Anyone Tell You Before?

MOVE

Do you play a trick or game or experiment a little while engaging in this world with people around?

If yes, try this. Pass a statement to someone you see stressed, confused, angry, or just lost in their thoughts while sitting in front of you.

“Did anyone tell you before?”
Without looking into their eyes, you’ll know something clicked. The person returns to present. Turns around if moving away. Looks up if their head was down. Forced to ask, “What?”

Give a pause. Ask, “What? Any guesses?”
Pass a smile. Comfort them. They may smile or express a nervous, surprised look.

Quickly, without any further delay, say: “You are the best.”

Ensure your eyes are wide open. You are in full consciousness. In the present. Receive and absorb with your eyes what you see. And move on.

I have tried this for two decades or more.

Twenty-four years back, passing out of MBA, I was working as a lecturer. One reason most students attended my lectures was because I added something curious and out of context when the lecture ended. Something that made them smile, laugh, enjoy, or relate to.

For me it felt abrupt.

Maybe not. It was what I experienced from my guru who did this. He said something so romantic or angelic and yet so relatable that the listener had no option except to smile and move on.

SEE

The moment you do this, something shifts.

In a world where ‘work’ more than ‘living’ brings us together, where credit for rightful work may be taken away, they wonder - what are they about to hear?

Their eyes light up. Not with joy yet. With surprise.

The surprise isn’t about the compliment coming. It’s about being noticed. Being seen.

The nervous smile comes next. Or the confused expression. Sometimes both mixed together.

When you say “You are the best” with full consciousness - not as flattery, not as manipulation, just as truth in that moment - they pause.

The end result is always the same. A smile. And calmness. After a momentary pause.

That pause is everything.

In that pause, they’re no longer the stressed person, the confused team member, the angry colleague. They step out of being the doer. For that moment, they become the witness - drishta.
They see themselves being seen.

REFLECT

My guru wasn’t just being playful when he did this. He was demonstrating Sakshi Bhaav in action.

He was showing me how to pull someone into witness consciousness without lecturing them about it. Without philosophy. Without frameworks.

Just interruption. Pattern break. Full presence.

For twenty-four years, I’ve done the same. Not teaching presence. Not explaining witness consciousness. Just creating moments where people are forced to pause and see themselves being seen.

You become the mirror. “You are the best” said with full consciousness forces them to witness themselves through your eyes.

That’s why it always works. Not because the words are magical. But because for that moment, they stop doing and start witnessing.

The pause is where witness consciousness lives.

Not in meditation halls. Not in silent retreats. But in the middle of a stressed workday when someone interrupts your mental loop and says, “Did anyone tell you before?”

And you’re forced to ask, “What?”

And they see you. Fully. In that moment. That’s drishta. That’s Sakshi Bhaav.
Not as philosophy. As practice. As gift. As interruption that brings you home.