SP Wednesday - Ugly Beautiful

It is easy to love butterflies. It is easy to love babies. It is easy to love flowers, and puppies, and birdies, and pretty things...

(Sing like no one is listening - 2001)

It is so easy in fact that most people do love those things. A lot even.

But what about the less lovable things in life.

What about the warty, scary, scarred, ugly parts of life ?

Of people who we know ?

Of ourselves ?

Do those parts need less love ?

I think not ! I think that they in fact need more love

than the pretty, shiny, sweet parts.

Without love, those parts get uglier,

wart-ier, more scarred and scary.

But then, how do you really learn to love the UNLovable ?

(art journal page "Unlovable" - May 19, 2009)

I think you need to go slow.

Maybe you need to love one icky wart or deep, painful scar at a time...

After all, that ugliness, those scars, those warts, didn't appear all in one day.

And maybe, just maybe,

with a little more love and a little more time,

those scars, those warts, those scary, scared parts of life,

of people we know,

of ourselves,

can become ugly beautiful instead.

Kiss a warty toad part of yourself today ! Happy SP Wednesday, my Ugly Beauties !

This post was partly inspired by Life is a Verb by Patti Digh, p.134, "Love Unlovable People". Patti is coming to Deerfield, NH on June 2nd to read from her amazing, inspiring, lovely book and I will be there with bells on !

It is also inspired by Sheri Gaynor's Creative Awakenings, p.114 - The Toad Committee. Sheri encourages us to listen carefully to what the venomous toad parts of ourselves are yelling at us - their message may just be something we need to hear !)