Day 26 - What Is REAL?

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?" 

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled. 

"The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."

The Rabbit sighed. He thought it would be a long time before this magic called Real happened to him. He longed to become Real, to know what it felt like; and yet the idea of growing shabby and losing his eyes and whiskers was rather sad. He wished that he could become it without these uncomfortable things happening to him.

Much of this passage was quoted in my TW reading this morning. It's one of my favorite pieces of literature ever. It speaks volumes to my heart, and I have thought about it often throughout my life. It rings true and...well, real.

Four days left in the actual program for me. I doubt I will catch up with the reading by Day 30, but I will continue to read through to the end of the book (I'm about five "days" behind). After I finish the book, I will go on to Thin Again, which I picked up a few years ago and put on a shelf. I'm glad I have it to continue on with and reinforce the TW principles through reading for a bit longer.

Yesterday's reading was about forgiving and moving forward in the freedom and lightness of forgiveness. The big things from my past I've forgiven. Recent things, maybe not so completely, but I'm working on it. It's hard to forgive a person or people for a situation you can't describe or even begin to understand. I know complete understanding is only God's, but having a better grip on the deeper parts of the situation would go a long way toward helping me let it go.

It has really been impressed upon me today how much better I feel all the time when I'm not overeating at all. I remember ten years ago reading the statement that "nothing tastes as good as thin feels" and thinking it was one of the tritest-sounding statements I'd ever heard. I've found it to be spot-on, though. Absolutely true.

It has rained most of the day today, which has made an otherwise sad day a little bit happier for me. I so adore the rain.