beauty is skin deep or photoshop can help create it!

i realize i have already covered this subject recently, but when i saw this video i couldn't resist posting it! every girl (and guys for that matter) should see this video and see what the end photo looks like vs. the ordinary girl at the beginning.

i have so many people in my life that i think are beautiful on the outside but fall short of being a beautiful person because of the way they treat people. imagine if we wore our inner beauty on the outside for all to see. Confidence is a big start in that beauty being seen. Some of the nicest, most beautiful people i know are far from ugly (but aren't super models either)... but i almost did not know them because they were shy and didn't even try to put themselves out there. They seemed awkward and i almost didn't even notice them because they looked just average on the surface. Once i got to know them i realized that they were amazing! Sometimes we only see what is there for us to see, which is a major fault of human nature.

i've noticed Claire paying more attention to magazines and what people look like. i have always been open with her about my working in photoshop for a career (which i am happily no longer doing!). She has seen the original photos and then what happens with each stage and the end product. i've had clients who were losing their hair and i added hair to make them look like they were not going bald. i've had clients request that they have no wrinkles on their CD covers, so i edit them out. i've had clients with a pimple or a missed stubble hair during their morning shave, each item was edited out until the final image looked like a perfect person. So for me it is easy to show her and tell her that people in magazines are not always what they appear to be. She gets it, but i think deep down she still wonders if she measures up... or if she would need some major tweaking if she was a model. (which is a dream career for her, sadly i can't convince her otherwise!)

i wish there wasn't a beauty ruler in life... but we are all seen on levels of attraction. Be it what we see on the outside, or what we show from our insides. If you are an ugly person on the outside, you can still shine and become beautiful with how you treat people. But if you are beautiful on the outside and take that opportunity to manipulate people and use people for what you want... it makes you just as "ugly" as the person with flaws on the outside. One day people will wake up and realize who/what you are if you are a mean person... despite how you look on the outside.

to quote someone's blog i recently had the honor of reading...
"Many times we don't give people a chance
simply because their outer appearance doesn't fancy us
or the first impression wasn't "lovely"
or we just don't like "their type".
Understandable...because that's our human nature.
But as Christians God persuades us to have control
over our nature. Because if we let it dominate
in our life we will quickly find ourselves
headed in a downward direction."

so today i am setting a goal to do my best never to judge on a first impression again.