Remember: The Worth of Souls Is Great in the Sight of God

This was a project for my D&C class, called "Experiment Upon the Word," where I was supposed to take one principle of doctrine being discussed and create an "experiment" to implement for 10 days, in order to learn for myself the truth of the principle. I chose D&C 18:10

Date of Project: October 10-18
Principle: Remember—The worth of souls is great in the sight of God.


Reason for choosing this topic:
As a college-age female, I have lots of insecurities and often am too harsh on myself, especially when it comes to self image and body image. I heard about the Women’s Services “Recapturing Beauty” campaign and the 10-day challenge they are doing, and, combined with our study of D&C section 18, decided I was really going to take this seriously. I know that my feelings of self-doubt, my poor self-image, and my insecurities do not come from God, for “the worth of souls is great” in His sight. I chose to do an experiment on those words and learn for myself what I am worth to God.
(Note: I plan on using the 10-day challenge as a jumping-off point for my Experiment, and adding my own study and reflection to the challenge that they have designed.)

Plan:
• Find and read (at least) 3 talks on self-worth, self-image, and the like. Take note of things that stick out to me.
• Participate in BYU Women’s Services’ “10-Day Challenge,” which includes things like reading scriptures and writing in a journal positive things about self-image, as well as things like exercising, not criticizing your body, etc.
• Make a point of complimenting others and pointing out the good in them. Avoid negative talk.
• Each day, record one thing I love about myself.

Outcomes:
• I’ve always known about my divine nature, etc, but through this experiment I learned a lot of things about how I can realize my worth.
• I learned that perfection is a process, and that it’s okay for me to be imperfect. A favorite quote that I found is, “We often worry so much about pleasing and performing for others that we lose our own uniqueness, that full and relaxed acceptance of ourselves as a person of worth and individuality.”
• In a talk by Neal A. Maxwell, he says, “There is a difference … between being ‘anxiously engaged’ and being over-anxious and thus underengaged.” This quote really stuck out to me because I tend to try to have everything perfect. If it’s not perfect I feel like a failure, so I usually end up feeling stuck before I even begin.
• I made a list of things that I like about myself. I found things about myself that are positive and likeable. It was hard for me to do, but I felt good about myself afterwards. I could see in myself reasons why others would love me for who I am. For my list, I made sure that I didn’t include things just because others have liked them; I know my fiancé thinks I’m beautiful, but I wanted to be able to see it for myself. I think making sure that I honestly believed each item on that list really helped me to think about my positive attributes and to be grateful for them.
• I learned that gratitude is so very important. In a talk by Margaret D. Nadauld, “What You Are Meant To Be,” she mentions over and over again that you can recognize “grateful daughters of God” by how they act, dress, and live. This reminded me that it’s not just important that we dress modestly and know of our divine nature, but we must also show gratitude for the multitude of blessings God grants to us each and every day.
• At the end of the 10 days, I was able to look in the mirror and see my own beauty. Without makeup. This is something I have not been able to do before.

Conclusion:
This experiment may have been one of the best projects I’ve ever undertaken for myself. I learned so much about the worth of a single soul to God, the worth of my soul to Him. What sums it up best was recorded in my journal from just the second day of this project: “Confidence—not pride, conceit, or arrogance—is where true beauty stems from. I know that, in the grand scheme of things, I am ‘less than the dust of the earth’ but I also recognize that I have such infinite worth. I am a child of God. My worth cannot be diminished.”