Sandbox

I look at myself in the mirror several times every single day, sometimes for embarrassing lengths of time. At any given moment, I could give you a fairly accurate physical inventory of myself: current shade of undereye circles (eggplant, obscured by concealer), number of blemishes (undisclosed, and similarly concealed), areas of recent weight gain (thighs) and hair status (winter-static chic).

I suspect that most people have a similarly acute awareness of their physicality. You might not be as unapologetically vain as I am, but you can’t avoid looking at yourself every time you wash your face or change your clothes. We could all distinguish our current selves from ourselves four years ago. And it’s fairly obvious when it’s time for a physical overhaul.

It’s harder to perceive changes when it comes to the internal values that define us, that determine how we act and what we say, We fall into patterns— shuffling between work, classes, meetings, basketball games, parties—without considering the type of life these activities comprise. Even if you’re completely satisfied with and engaged in your myriad pursuits, you might not have clear sense of the motivations behind them or where you ultimately want them to lead.

Looking at your Google calendar isn’t quite like looking in the mirror. When we consider our day-to-day routines, it’s easy to get caught up in one fragmented aspect that is most pressing at the time. We might never determine what we really value and how can we reflect that in our lives.

In a somewhat desperate attempt to do just those two things, I took an online “life values inventory” at (you guessed it) www.lifevaluesinventory.org. It wasn’t exactly a revelation that I value “achievement” and “privacy” over “concern for the environment” or “belonging.” But it was surprising to see I’m not acting on a significant number of things I believe in.

So the next time you’re in front of the mirror, taming a stray hair or agonizing between shirt A or shirt B, direct a little of that mental energy inward. You might find that the person staring back at you isn’t as familiar as you thought.