I am not by nature a vain person but today I had my hair cut and when I was asked by the hairdresser to approve of the job she had done, I was mildly displeased at my appearance in the mirror.I discerned unexpectedly dark rings under my eyes when I looked carefully in the well-illuminated mirror.
Normally at home these sort of details escape me when I use the bathroom mirror to shave around my goatee. I am invariably in a rush - and anyway, I have little interest in obsessively monitoring the signs of advancing age.
My characteristic approach to potential problems is to tackle them head on - so I decided to create a distortature of myself which is much grosser than reality (no, really, it is....).
(Easily done using the photoshop "liquify" filter - see image at left.)
I have now placed this image on my desktop and I use it as the default background when I power up my computer. Why? So I am gradually habituated to perceive the image as my normal likeness.
Thus, from now on, when I see myself in a mirror, I am pleasantly surprised.
