Calling methods of a component from a different component

[Mate de Vita]

public class Main {
    public static void main (String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater (new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                createAndShowGUI();
            }
        });
    }
    
    private static void createAndShowGUI() {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame ("");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation (JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        
        frame.setJMenuBar (new JMenuBar());
        frame.setContentPane (new MainPanel());
        
        frame.pack();
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo (null);
        frame.setVisible (true);
    }
}

class MainPanel extends JPanel {
    public TimerLabel timerLabel = new TimerLabel();
    public SolutionsPanel solutionsPanel = new SolutionsPanel();


    public MainPanel() {
        super();
        
        add (timerLabel);
        add (solutionsPanel);
        
        restart();
    }
    
    public void restart() {
        timerLabel.reset();
        solutionsPanel.reset();
    }
}

class TimerLabel extends JLabel implements ActionListener {
    public Timer timer = new Timer (1000, this);
    
    TimerLabel() {
        super();
    }
    
    public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent e) {
        int timeLeft = Integer.valueOf (this.getText());
        if (timeLeft > 0) {
            timeLeft--;
            this.setText (Integer.toString (timeLeft));
        }
        else {
            //call MainPanel.solutionsPanel.showSolutions(); !!!
        }
    }
    
    public void reset() {
        timer.stop();
        this.setText (Integer.toString (100));
        timer.start();
    }
}

class SolutionsPanel extends JScrollPane {
    JTextArea textArea;
    
    SolutionsPanel() {
        super();
        textArea = new JTextArea (4, 15);
        add (textArea);

    }
    
    public void reset() {
        textArea.setText ("Solutions");
        hideSolutions();
    }

    public void hideSolutions() {
        textArea.setVisible (false);
    }

    public void showSolutions() {
        textArea.setVisible (true);
        //call timerLabel.timer.stop(); !!!
    }
}

First off, I haven't really gone through the lesson on timers yet, so I understand that my timer might not work properly the way I designed it. It's just there to give you a rough idea of what it's supposed to be doing.

I have a panel with two components: timerLabel and solutionsPanel, as seen above.
Basically what I want to do is, when the timer reaches zero, I want to call showSolutions() on solutionsPanel, and then showSolutions should in turn call timer.stop() on timerLabel.timer. Is there an easy way to do this? What would happen if I made timerLabel and solutionsPanel static?