One of my favorite books is confronting the myth of self-esteem. It's LDS and talks about abasing ourselves. That is scriptural.
ColinJune 6, 2022
I'm with you, Wally, in being concerned by well-meaning efforts to reduce everything to self-esteem—especially because if that's the problem, then the solution looks like increasing self-esteem and this leads to terribly misguided efforts like giving hollow praise and trophies for everything. Loving God and feeling loved by Him are a lot closer to core solutions.
I've often heard people claim that the second great command, "Love thy neighbor as thyself," is somehow a command to love ourselves. If that's what Jesus meant, it's surprising that the parable he told to illustrate the principle described a man, the Samaritan, who never once that of himself. Not for a moment.
MaryannJune 6, 2022
I love your statement: "Self-affirmation must not replace heavenly attestation." As a bookseller for many years, I noticed so many books being released that present alternate routes for achieving happiness, peace, and self-esteem, INSTEAD OF trusting in the Lord and following HIS path. It seems that every month new books are released claiming to be the magic formula for "feeling good" about ourselves and our lives. As you stated, In order to have true peace and joy, we must combine our understanding of our divine worth with a spirit of humility, a willingness to repent, and deep gratitude to the Lord for enabling us to accomplish good things. When our motivation is to please our Heavenly Father and our Savior, we will feel that divine attestation from the Spirit that we are on the right path. There is no greater joy.
Tom BaxterJune 6, 2022
In King Benjamin’s profound and life-changing sermon to the Nephites, the power of the Holy Ghost bore witness of his words and brought about a change of heart in his listeners. Mosiah 4:3 tells us they experienced a “peace of conscience “ “3 And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had spoken unto them.” In my opinion this is God’s definition of the non- scriptural term self esteem.
Andrew J CurrieJune 6, 2022
I've always thought D&C121:45 is the best explanation of self-esteem and how to obtain it. It has no hint of self-concern or, even, self-awareness: "Let thy bowels ... be full of charity towards all men … and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God....”
What better description of meaningful self-esteem than 'being confident in the presence of Deity'?
Bonnie MJune 6, 2022
This article is amazing. Such clarification that is so important. Thank you so much! Bonnie
Joy PorterJune 6, 2022
This is an interesting article and has some thoughtful interpretations of self-esteem. However I disagree on some level with the idea of denying ourselves the ability to reprogram the negative beliefs that we have received from our childhood. As a member of the church's 12-step Addiction Recovery Program, I have learned that we can do nothing without the grace of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Addictions and negative beliefs cannot be changed without His intervention and help. As was mentioned in the article... it is true that we are nothing when it comes to making changes in ourselves. However as Professor Sandberg, at BYU, so beautifully put it: change really takes courage + action + Grace. https://magazine.byu.edu/article/healing-courage-action-grace/
For myself, I have learned that I have spoken so critically to myself for the last 65 years that there must be some reprogramming of my mind. So, every morning and evening I tell myself that I am a beautiful child of God. That I am worthy of love and respect. That I am a fallible human being who makes mistakes but I'm a worthwhile and lovable human being.
Many of us carry terrible "stinkin thinkin" which sadly lies to us, telling us we are not worthy of our Saviors grace, love and atonement. This is where the action step of reprogramming my mind has made a great difference. I have felt more worthy to approach My Savior, to ask him to change my very heart, to turn my life completely over to him and trust that he can do more with me than I can do with myself. I've seen literal miracles using this approach.
I think there's room for both in this negative, critical world we live in.
Donald CyrJune 6, 2022
What's a revelation ! This article bring me to a profound re-evaluation of the concept of self esteem that I am fighting for so many years... It's a relief to understand this principle in a different perspective for now on... Thanks for this enlightenment in your today publication.
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Becky L RoseJune 10, 2022
One of my favorite books is confronting the myth of self-esteem. It's LDS and talks about abasing ourselves. That is scriptural.
ColinJune 6, 2022
I'm with you, Wally, in being concerned by well-meaning efforts to reduce everything to self-esteem—especially because if that's the problem, then the solution looks like increasing self-esteem and this leads to terribly misguided efforts like giving hollow praise and trophies for everything. Loving God and feeling loved by Him are a lot closer to core solutions. I've often heard people claim that the second great command, "Love thy neighbor as thyself," is somehow a command to love ourselves. If that's what Jesus meant, it's surprising that the parable he told to illustrate the principle described a man, the Samaritan, who never once that of himself. Not for a moment.
MaryannJune 6, 2022
I love your statement: "Self-affirmation must not replace heavenly attestation." As a bookseller for many years, I noticed so many books being released that present alternate routes for achieving happiness, peace, and self-esteem, INSTEAD OF trusting in the Lord and following HIS path. It seems that every month new books are released claiming to be the magic formula for "feeling good" about ourselves and our lives. As you stated, In order to have true peace and joy, we must combine our understanding of our divine worth with a spirit of humility, a willingness to repent, and deep gratitude to the Lord for enabling us to accomplish good things. When our motivation is to please our Heavenly Father and our Savior, we will feel that divine attestation from the Spirit that we are on the right path. There is no greater joy.
Tom BaxterJune 6, 2022
In King Benjamin’s profound and life-changing sermon to the Nephites, the power of the Holy Ghost bore witness of his words and brought about a change of heart in his listeners. Mosiah 4:3 tells us they experienced a “peace of conscience “ “3 And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had spoken unto them.” In my opinion this is God’s definition of the non- scriptural term self esteem.
Andrew J CurrieJune 6, 2022
I've always thought D&C121:45 is the best explanation of self-esteem and how to obtain it. It has no hint of self-concern or, even, self-awareness: "Let thy bowels ... be full of charity towards all men … and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God....” What better description of meaningful self-esteem than 'being confident in the presence of Deity'?
Bonnie MJune 6, 2022
This article is amazing. Such clarification that is so important. Thank you so much! Bonnie
Joy PorterJune 6, 2022
This is an interesting article and has some thoughtful interpretations of self-esteem. However I disagree on some level with the idea of denying ourselves the ability to reprogram the negative beliefs that we have received from our childhood. As a member of the church's 12-step Addiction Recovery Program, I have learned that we can do nothing without the grace of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Addictions and negative beliefs cannot be changed without His intervention and help. As was mentioned in the article... it is true that we are nothing when it comes to making changes in ourselves. However as Professor Sandberg, at BYU, so beautifully put it: change really takes courage + action + Grace. https://magazine.byu.edu/article/healing-courage-action-grace/ For myself, I have learned that I have spoken so critically to myself for the last 65 years that there must be some reprogramming of my mind. So, every morning and evening I tell myself that I am a beautiful child of God. That I am worthy of love and respect. That I am a fallible human being who makes mistakes but I'm a worthwhile and lovable human being. Many of us carry terrible "stinkin thinkin" which sadly lies to us, telling us we are not worthy of our Saviors grace, love and atonement. This is where the action step of reprogramming my mind has made a great difference. I have felt more worthy to approach My Savior, to ask him to change my very heart, to turn my life completely over to him and trust that he can do more with me than I can do with myself. I've seen literal miracles using this approach. I think there's room for both in this negative, critical world we live in.
Donald CyrJune 6, 2022
What's a revelation ! This article bring me to a profound re-evaluation of the concept of self esteem that I am fighting for so many years... It's a relief to understand this principle in a different perspective for now on... Thanks for this enlightenment in your today publication.
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