Life of Pi...Loving myself.

I can for whatever reason never think of just one thing to blog about. There are always two.

Today, I am struck by the poignancy of two things--but both are about blurred lines between fact and fiction. Two days ago, I finished reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel. The book was so very endearing. It blended the lines between lunacy and sanity, fact and fiction, and by the end of the novel, I was completely in love with the idea that a boy could really survive in the Pacific Ocean sharing a lifeboat with a Bengal Tiger.

Last night--in a moment far more real as far as my actual experience of it, I was sitting in my living room with the Monday Night girls, of which there were six, and we were sharing something negative about ourselves that we'd like to change. Not a detail--like, 'I want to be thinner,' but a character issue--like to be less self-centered, less negative, more respectful, etc. Three of the six girls said, "I would like to quit being so negative about myself. I am always putting myself down and thinking horrible things about myself." Their honesty was deep and genuine--to the point that one girl nearly had herself in tears sharing about how horribly she thinks about herself sometimes.

My girls have come to believe lies about themselves--they have replaced the truth of their beauty and worth with something far more destructive, and they are believing the fiction they have been fed. Blurred lines, fact and fiction...where is the truth?