I Hear Pretty People

Here's what I'm thinking about this evening...

With my new position at work, I am on the phone much of my day. I speak to nearly every patient that will be coming through our surgical center. One day I realized something interesting. When I am speaking to a patient, I usually develop kind of a picture in my head of what I think they look like. That's probably not too unusual. I expect most people do that. The thing that caught me by surprise was when I realized I nearly always envision each of them as being quite attractive. Is that weird?

I've been pondering this oddity. I know, everyone is beautiful. However, I picture people to look more like actors or models, not like the average person. You know what I mean, right? We really do have lots of patients who come through who are physically beautiful, but maybe not quite as perfect as I picture them on the phone.

One day, I was wondering why all my phone people seem so pretty to me.  I may be speaking to someone who hasn't showered in days, who has food stuck in his or her teeth or for some other reason would normally seem unappealing to me. Yet, as he/she speaks to me, my mind makes them all shiny and maybe even smelling sweet. Does that mean I am a person who has trouble accepting people as they are? I hope not. I'm going to put a different spin on it, because it is my blog and I can do as I wish and make myself seem as shiny and pretty as I wish as well. Because of that, I am going to guess that this phenomenon means I'm an optimist. Who knows what it really means...but I like  it.

Now, I'm wondering about the visually impaired. Do we all seem more beautiful to them? I hope so. It wouldn't make up for them missing out on beautiful sunsets or intricate flowers, but it would seem like a bit of compensation for what they miss.

And last, I am wondering if the same works in reverse. Do patients develop a mental image of how they think I look? I hope they picture me like Jennifer Garner!

Never mind. It doesn't really matter how they envision me. I think from now on, when I'm on the phone, I'm going to picture myself to look like Jennifer Garner.




P.S. to my family, I'm just having fun here. I like looking like me.

(photo from www.people.com)        

Gray Day Beauty

We woke up to a 2014 covered in a soft, fluffy frosting.

It is one of those mornings where the sky and the snowy landscape kind of blend together. The sky is still heavy with snow.

In fact, the clouds must be kind of softly bumping together up there as every now and then a poof of snowflakes flutters down with the breeze.

The sun isn't making much of a statement today, starting the year out a bit shy.

At first glance it seems a bit gloomy but wandering outside with my camera really helps me see the beauty all around.

I don't really make New Year's Resolutions much anymore but this morning I did make just one. 

I want to be more intentional about enjoying the gift of vision. 

I want to be able to notice the loveliness more, rather than just rushing by. I want to not only delight in the fantastic colors of sunrises and sunsets, but also the softness of the gray days like today. I want to treasure the vision of faces, from the fresh, expectant newness of a child's soft face, to the faces that display more history in the fine wrinkles. I want to notice the patterns seen in nature, from the beauty of a snowflake to the delicate designs seen in new leaves. 

It occurs to me today that if I am looking more for beauty, I will see less ugliness around me. It is my hope that it will force me to manage my feelings of needing to rush, always wanting to get more accomplished. My hope is that it will center me around a calm column of gratefulness. That may be a lot to expect from the gift of vision but it is just one way of being appreciative of all that I have been given.