I think this is one of the reasons there is so much cultural appeal to the idea of artists as lovers. The gift of the artist is to notice strange and beautiful things, and to transmute that into an experience we can share. That's magical in itself, but to see yourself reflected back so clearly and beautifully through the loving eyes of another? What could be more intimate?

I also think this is negatively generative and diminishing. Every time you edit yourself down like this, you are brought closer to that version of yourself. Thoughts and actions precede character; in a very meaningful sense we both become and are who we pretend to be.