It is a contentious subject and possibly one that is very personal. What is the definition of beauty? Many of us invest hundreds or even thousands of pounds or dollars each year into trying to look better. While some people appear to be “beautiful” from birth, others, like swans, develop it as they get older. In addition, not everyone agrees on what exactly constitutes physical beauty. Not every one of us finds the same people to be attractive. In actuality, it varies a lot. And even when it comes to the same person, our opinion of beauty can evolve over time. Someone who we previously found attractive may now be completely unattractive in our eyes, and vice versa. This suggests that beauty is intrinsically linked to human emotions rather than just being a matter of appearance, which is so often what we focus on. Our perception of someone’s beauty can definitely be influenced by how we see them as a “whole” person. In contrast to someone who is more aloof, someone who radiates warmth and good cheer frequently comes across as more attractive. Being beautiful is about the inner spirit shining through and is much more than just the physical features we were born with. Even very young children are able to distinguish between different facial expressions when shown pictures of them, responding more favorably to a smiling face than an angry or disappointed one. Not only can our immediate facial expressions affect how others perceive us, but as we get older, our overall personalities may also become more apparent in our faces. If we spend our entire lives allowing negativity to rule, we’ll probably end up ‘wearing’ our emotions outwardly.
