Inner Beauty on the Outside

Every once and a while I take a picture of Mandy or look over at her at a random moment get this feeling of surprise, thinking to my self, “Wow, she is so beautiful.”  I know I am prejudiced.  I’m fully aware that I see more beauty in her than someone else might because she is my daughter and I love her.

 

What is funny to me is that this phenomenon, of me seeing outward beauty in someone because I love and care about them, extends way beyond just my children.  Whenever I meet someone, I, because I am an extremely visual learner, take that first impression and store it away in my brain as a picture of the person tied with my initial thoughts of the person, i.e. whether they were kind, nice, eccentric, rude, etc.  Then as I get to know a person more, if I begin to note more and more positive personality attributes in the person, somehow the person outwardly becomes more and more beautiful to me.  I’ll notice the symmetry of their eyes or the brightness of their smile or the way their hair perfectly frames their face.  However, if as I get to know a person more I begin to see more and more negative personality attributes, like selfishness, entitlement, rudeness, etc., for some reason I begin to notice more and more their less than attractive features.  I’m sure other people must feel this way too, at least to some degree.  Right?  Does someone’s personality affect how you categorize their outward beauty?