Beauty is in the brain of the beholder

The shower provides an opportunity to ponder, dwell, daydream or zone out as the water drapes your body. Its been a source of epiphanies, revelations and decisions, but most recently its been a place where I find myself questioning the simplicities of life.

For example, how does an object, person, song, etc that you at one time thought you found attractive or beautiful suddenly become unattractive (or vice versa)? How do I find a song I really disliked on a cd to all of a sudden be enjoyable, and on the most played list on my iPod? How do I find someone I thought was attractive to be unattractive all of a sudden?

The only thing I can think of is a changing frame of reference--or a confluence of experiences all of a sudden merging in to one, large representation of that object (smell, song, person). I really disliked avocados until I was an adult, and I believe one evening, at a party at my neighbors' house in Santa Barbara, events, people, smells created this new world where I experienced avocados in a new way. I had tied them to a good time, happy places, and an overall pristine evening. I've loved avocados ever since.

What about people? its so easy to vacillate between indifference, lust, and (dare I say) hate? More commonly, its indifference to lust/intrigue. Just like those dreams about that person in your calculus class that you never really noticed, and you go to class the next day and you have these strange sensation/feelings like you are attracted to them? What is about those dreams that makes us notice or change our feelings?

I found one of my co-workers to be attractive, physically, and then I got to know him and found him to be even more attractive --mentally and emotionally. That, in turn, made me find him even more physically attractive. But how? Why? My eyes still saw the same person--nothing changed physically. But every day I wake up and see him next to me and I get all gushy again, even though he's the same person I met 8 years ago. Consequently, how do you "fall out of attraction" with people? What in the brain changes or manifests itself in a mutant manner when seeing that same person?