Holy Cow. Can we talk about this? I read this essay when it was under consideration for Segullah, and flipped. What are we doing to ourselves?!? I understand this woman’s pain! Why do we (and I’m talking about most of us, here, ladies!) let the world dictate such ridiculous standards to us?It’s super easy for me to say I’m not affected by all those messages out there. It’s super easy for me to tell all my friends that I am SO above and untouched by all the superficial flim-flam that’s foisted on me. But can I tell you the honest truth here?
It gets to me.
Dang, it pains me to say that.
My entire brain knows exactly how stupid and silly all the physical pressures around us are. The whole entire brain, I promise! So, where exactly then does the glance in the mirror as I walk by come from? What part in my body is telling me it is important that I get down just one more dress size? Why do I still want my calves to be smaller? Why do I need another pair of shoes? It’s not my brain, I tell ya. My brain knows. My brain gets it! I can take that logic train straight to the right conclusion about the silliness of the whole thing.
Talk to me about this. How do you step outside this pressure? How do you find peace with your body — no matter your size or shape? How do we let ourselves be so overcome with this pressure that we resort to dangerous and damaging practices? Help me out, here!
Ever since C Jane’s entry on seeing the beauty in your own body, I’ve been looking for that beauty more often. I look with purpose at myself and at others to find the beauty, the variation, the uniqueness of all of God’s children. He did not intend for us to be identical, in appearance or behaviour. He gave us each our own talents; he gave us our own bodies. More and more I do not feel the need to look like others. I like the things that define me.
I also try to treat my prized possession with respect and care. I have abused my body, too, out of self-consciousness, laziness, and gluttony. I have tried to conform. But I am repenting, turning around. I am trying to bring my behaviour in line with the teachings of the gospel, to care for it with the same attention as I care for my children. It is, after all, the best gift I’ve got. Without our bodies, and the promise of eternal life in them, the Atonement is of little worth. Our bodies were made for Man, not Man for our bodies.
I am also practicing not judging myself or others. Each time we judge someone for their appearance, we are reinforcing in our own minds the societal values of conformity and abuse. If God loves all his children, without regard to shape or size (or smell, or degree of coordination, or elegance, or amount of hair, or lack thereof…) it behooves us all to love each other the same.
I posted somewhere that you should enjoy the body you have now because when you get older and look back, it will seem to be a great body. Bodies deteriorate, only those privileged few are able to regain the toned bodies of their teenage years.
I’ve been looking at my body naked and trying to love it. Not so easy, but I’m working on it.
I don’t think the article about purging dealt so much with body image as addiction. It’s hard to see how you can get addicted to vomiting, but people do. As an addictive personality myself, though, I understand how something can simply take over one’s life.
I applaud the write for sharing so honestly and I bet money it will benefit others struggling with the same addiction.
I myself have a hard time with this issue. (And I have a feeling I’m not going to be very popular for saying this). While we shouldn’t succumb to social pressure to be ultra thin (or even more thin than our natural body type) we SHOULD be healthy and we SHOULD treat our bodies well . . . and sometimes this means that yes, we should be a little thinner. I’m not talking about getting down to a size 2 here or doing anything abusive to our bodies, but sometimes when I hear women lament the fact that they need to lose weight, I think to myself, “Yeah, you probably do.” So this is my issue. . . is it really unhealthy not to be satisfied with your body if you really could and should lose a little weight by eating right and exercising?
Let me be clear. I’m talking about women/people who are clearly over weight. I’m NOT suggesting under any circumstances that a woman should abuse her body in any way. I’m not suggesting that this should become an obsession. And I understand that some people naturally have a bigger body type despite healthy habits.
I just feel like there are conflicting messages out there about this. “America is the Most Obese Nation!” “Over 50% of Children are Overweight!” Than at the same time we’re told to love our bodies no matter the shape and size. The Dove campaign with curvy “real” sized women and on and on. So which is it? I would say that “healthy” is the ideal for everyone and it has nothing to do with optimum size or shape. And sometimes that means losing a little weight. . . and sometimes that means gaining a little weight.
So back to your original question of how do we step outside this pressure? I don’t know . . . but I’m also not sure that it’s always a bad thing to be unsatisfied with our bodies if we know we can and should do better.
What good points! Miggy, I am totally with you! My struggle, I think, is how to not let that desire to be healthy and strong overtake me and become vanity. I just started training for a triathlon, and I’m not sure how to explain to myself and my girls that I want to do this to conquer something difficult. Being toned and in shape and eating healthy are all important benefits. But for me, conquering my body is what is motivating me to push forward.
I’m not sure my girls see it though. And I desperately want them to understand that vanity is not what’s pushing me. How do you phrase conversations like that?
I think there are two separate discussions here that both deserve some time. One, loving your body and treating it right is so important (and a commandment, which is why we get things like the Word of Wisdom, and, anciently, the Law of Moses), and I think this is what Miggy is talking about. When we love it, we treat it right, which means taking great care with our eating and exercise habits.
But on the other hand, we still need to feel the love of our bodies as things of beauty. All of God’s creations are things of beauty, each in their own way. Some people will need to overcome some societal pressure to accept themselves as beautiful. I don’t think this means accepting an unhealthy body.
Those of us that are unhealthy know it, but we still need to love what we’ve got. Love should be the catalyst for lifestyle changes that lead to better health. Loving your body does not mean being satisfied with its shape in an unhealthy state.
I just don’t think it’s right to feel self-loathing or ugliness just because you don’t fit the Hollywood template, nor do I think self-loathing should be the motivation for change. If you don’t love your body now, losing a couple of pounds won’t change the way you feel.
Answer this honestly to yourself: Who do you feel more sorry for Mary Kate or Kirsty Ally? Which one grosses you out more?
Most of us would answer that we feel sorry, repulsed and “worry” them both, however, the anorexics out there still get work…MK just signed a huge television deal. Kate Moss, even after admitting heroin and coke habits still gets top modeling contracts. Check out the runway and see who Prada, Versace, and other top designers choose.
Fat chicks get the jokes, the money they earn is (usually)at their personal expence. Sure we get grossed out at seeing Victoria Beckam in a bathing suit, but really, don’t we all feel a tad more “I wish I had her problem” than Cameryn Manhiem’s?
The thing is both extremes do it for a REASON, and food is the last reason on the list. Self loathing is a good reason (I can punish myself with food or deny myself), protection is another (fat people don’t get approached, hired, befriended). These are generalities, but I think they are more spot on than unhealthy eating habits.
If I have a good self image and if I am emotionally healthy too, chances are I will protect my body and keep it at a healthy weight. NOt all heavy people are emotional wrecks, but I would place 98% of them there. If I REALLY felt good about myself I would never do anything to change my body or to harm it.
But in reality, it’s sucks more to be fat than to be too thin. Too thin still is acceptable, just ask Teri Hatcher.
Somewhere I saw a snippet of a documentary of a woman who went inside a treatment center for eating disorders, just to document what kind of girls ended up there, and how difficult it is to conquer an eating disorder. The interviewer of the author said something hugely revealing. She said that as she watched the video of girls who were UNDER TREATMENT FOR AN EATING DISORDER, she couldn’t help but think, “Wow, those girls look great.”
Now THAT is scary.
I do think, though, that eating disorders are different than just body image issues (although certainly they are related). One of my best friends had anorexia in college, and still feels the effects of it, even today. Her issue, or at least the one she admitted, was control. She was an athlete, so of course had constant messages about her body, but she said the real killer was giving up control. If she could cook a 5 course meal for her roommates and buy bags of candy to sit around in the apartment (which she did on a fairly regular basis), and didn’t partake, she felt powerful. Her issues went way beyond just thinking that her thighs needed to be thinner. It became almost like a game, a power trip, a tool for her own psyche.
She tried, at times, to release the monster inside of her, and sometimes she succeeded. But her physical setbacks came when emotional ones did–a death of a friend, her boyfriend breaking up with her, a bad grade. Again, it had little to do with body image, and everything to do with power and control. And getting through that kind of stuff takes a lot more than just learning to turning off damaging messages.
Being sick for a long time with something undiagnosed is the best wake-up call I know of for someone who has been taking her body, and what it’s meant to function like, for granted.
I used to exercise because I was afraid of getting fat. Now I do it for the joy of being able to. I used to diet occasionally to lose extra weight. Now I am careful about what I eat every day because I am so grateful to be able to take care of my boys for one more day.
When you lose your health, your vision clears. I see very overweight people and am full of envy: how can they be able to be up and around, showing so much energy (think Jerry Springer) when they so obviously don’t care to take care of themselves? I see women who abuse their bodies surgically or in other ways and feel the same. I hope I’ll move past this stage of envy soon and even deeper into gratitude for what I CAN do and what I’ve learned over the last year.
Funny how there are so many scriptures (and even parts of the endowment) that refer to our bodies. I believe there is a something huge here, that our bodies are actually spiritual organs with capabilities that most of us never even begin to touch the surface of.
I’m very grateful for what I’ve learned. I will do yoga every day for the rest of my life. I will never, ever take my body for granted again.
I agree that the idea of being in control is enormous. It is for me on so many levels. I think part of my running is my attempt to control. I don’t want it to be, but I’m so conflicted because I think part of our journey here is to conquer the natural man tendancies to lay around and do nothing.
So on one side, I’m supposed to relenquish control, and on the other, I’m supposed to reclaim it.
I really do believe that control is a big deciever (see Eyre’s great commentary on this in Meridian), but I also really believe that I’ve got to get control of this lazy-man tendancy I have.
How does this all jive?
I think Justine has hit upon the paradox at the crux of our confusion. We are supposed to master ourselves while at the same time submitting ourselves to the Master. We are supposed to exercise our agency by becoming humble and submissive in all things. We are to gratefully respect the body that is our temple without making it into a false idol whether of vanity or self-loathing.
My experience with bulimia had a lot to do with body image, but I think it had more to do with pride and my relationship with my Savior. Nevertheless, I have moved on to be a control-freak about other issues and continue learning the same lessons over and over again in other forums of agency. Isn’t it nice to know we have forever to get it right?
Be of good cheer, ladies!
Such an interesting discussion and one I feel like I have with girls over and over (given my neighborhood and it’s seemingly high ratio of boob jobs and botox).
It’s really disconcerting how often I see women starve themselves to the “forced size zero” (CJane’s phrase that I can’t get out of my head) and then weeks later walk into church or the gym with a HUGE new chest! If our body is a temple, a tabernacle, a holy place, why do we mutilate it so? Why are we not gentle with ourselves? Why do we want to look this unnatural way?
I think one of our many responsibilities as children of God is to attempt to overcome the body, the natural man. And I think that means loving and respecting your body but not letting the things of the flesh ever control you– whether that be through food or exercise or self-perceptions.
Not that it’s easy for me… I’m still trying to convince myself that my postpartum body is a badge of honor.
No matter what end of the scale you are on here, this is heavy stuff (puns not intended).
First, I appreciated the essay about bulemia. I applaud the honesty. It’s always a good thing when we take a minute to see things from someone else’s perspective and try to understand the varying mortal experiences of others.
Two, it’s important not to oversimplify eating disorders of any kind. I live with someone who had anorexia and there are so many emotional issues behind it. Those don’t always go away even after the apparent affects of the disorder seem to have been overcome.
Third, I need to respond to the comment: “how can they be able to be up and around, showing so much energy (think Jerry Springer) when they so obviously don’t care to take care of themselves?” (I’m not even going to bother responding to the assumption that 98% of heavy people are emotional wrecks.)
Again I want to state that it’s important not to oversimplify someone else’s situation because it may be different from yours. I don’t watch Jerry Springer, but I actually know heavy people who do care to take care of themselves and I know rail-thin people who don’t care to take care of their bodies. I have a family member who refuses to eat fruits and vegetables and lives off of McDonalds; she does not exercise but she has a gorgeous body. I generally eat well, am no couch potato, although I will admit I need to work out, yet I am almost twice her size. Who takes better care of themselves? That’s not my call. Nor is it anyone else’s.
At least subconsiously, exercise can be just as much of an escape or an obsession for some people as food may be for others.
The bottom line (again a pun, I am so very sorry) is unless we have walked a mile or two in someone elses running shoes or their flip flops (or sat on the bench with them for a quarter or inning or two or whatever) we do not know and we cannot judge.
As for combatting the messages that to be of worth you need to weigh a certain weight or look a certain way, it’s much easier to ignore the shallow messages of inadequacy from Hollywood than it is to recover from those that come from peers and friends.
Heather, you are right on about the control thing. A teenage boy in our ward just got out of the hospital where he was put on a feeding tube and was just so sick from anorexia. He’s still very thin and looks unhappy.
His parents are very perfectionistic and controlling people. Good people who love their kids and who serve the Lord faithfully, but don’t allow much room for digression. I think control is a huge issue.
Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen are two of the saddest kids I know.
I have a hard time with my body because I KNOW my body is not healthy and not just because of the objectified beauty the world has created. A recent scary happening has caused me to change some of my eating habits, and that makes me feel better about my body and myself. Now when I look at myself, I still see a blob, but I feel better about it because I know that I’m taking better care of it, and one day because of this change, my body will look the way it is intended to look. Knowing that I’m exercising healthy habits helps me feel better about my body.
I have a family member who, when she is not pregnant, weighs 105 lbs.
I weigh almost twice that much.
I can easily hike, bike, run, and in general exercise with a great deal of ease and enjoyment.
She can’t walk a block without being out of breath.
(sorry, I posted without making my point)
What does healthy mean? You can’t tell just by looking at someone. Period.
As someone who still struggles with both of the big disorders, I have a very hard time with this issue. I know the science behind it, I know the psychology behind it, but it is a very real thinking process that is almost impossible to remove from my brain.
That being said, objectively, I know that my body is unhealthy. I know that I am not treating it well. I also know that I don’t know where the limit is. An eating disorder completely distorts the way I view myself–I look at pictures from ten years ago, when I was fifty pounds lighter, and still see someone who was fat. Logically, I know that 120 was a good weight for me, but my eyes just don’t see it. So where does the joy come in making my body healthy? I suppose that I could fast and pray to be able to love myself, but what if that does not happen? What if it is a trial I am not to have taken away? I might as well spend the energy on self-loathing.
Do you see the sickness?
I would KILL for the collarbones of Mary Kate.
Wow! I just read the essay, and I was immediately re-experiencing life with one of my last BYU roommates! I remember us going to dinner and having to physically restrain her later from bolting from the car to go purge. Every red light set me ready to jump on her. It was a freaky time for me, but I can’t imagine what she was actually going through. We ultimately made a pact; I was always on-call for her, and before I left, she had made HUGE steps toward changing her life. I don’t know where she is now. I hope she’s well. I hope all of you are.
I love some of the points in this discussion–I wish I had time to comment on more than what I’m about to. I have some weight issues, and I know if I exercised and ate better my body would respond in kind and look “better” –I’m working on that. I also know that even when I was a very active, healthy nearly-50 pounds lighter, I still had poochy love handles and a tummy ponch–I’ve had them since I was a pre-pubescent rail. It would be ridiculous to do lipo to get rid of those for the sake of meeting Hollywood’s definition of beauty, but that’s what it would take, even if I were the epitomy of fitness. And I’m afraid I’d have to have a full skeletal replacement to slip into anything under a size 10. It’s sad how, eating disorder or not, we so easily compare ourselves to such atypically or even falsely thin figures and feel bad if we don’t meet that image.
Should I be taking better care of myself? You bet. Should I love my body less because I’m overweight? No!! Self-loathing at any size is damaging to our souls and is one of the worst motivators around. If I do not accept myself where I am, it won’t matter how thin I get . . . being skinny doesn’t eliminate the deeper matters of self-acceptance and forgiveness.
Jen, my heart hurts to hear that. I’m not really comfortable giving advice, but I can bear you testimony that the Lord will listen and help. You’re right that sometimes He won’t take it away. But I absolutely know He will help, in whatever way we each individually need to grow and move past our pain.
I’ve just had too many experiences of the Lord carrying me through trial to not speak of His love for me.
I don’t always think knowing and understanding something academically offers any help in actually overcoming it. I understand perfectly well why eating an entire cheesecake will clog my arteries, yet I’m still tempted to do it. There’s such a strange disconnect sometimes between what we know and what we do.
But I do know our bodies can overcome amazing obstacles. Talk to the Lord. Talk. Talk. Talk. The answers will come.
Justine,
I think the way you discuss training for a tri with your kids is that you make it very clear you’re doing it because you love to compete, you enjoy those sports, you want to see how fast you can go, and you’re curious to learn what you can achieve. I would leave the side benefits out of it completely. You run to see how fast you are, not whether you weigh more or less than your competitors, right?
Anonymous #12, amen.
We have to stop assuming, comparing, and judging each other. It only supports the problem.
From reading the entry and all the responses the only thing that came to mind is how we have to be so careful about what we watch/read/subject ourselves to. I chose not to read “People” 24/7 because I know some of what is in there is damaging- very so. Same goes for TV, there are so many stupid shows on E! about the fabulous life of this or that or hot stars etc… Not healthy, not uplifting my life. Same goes for movies, too. I find when I am careful and choosy I feel better about myself. Also, there’s no way to keep yourself hidden from all negative things, but at least you can try and counteract with positives. How about Ensign instead of People or even PBS over E! ? It works for me, and I am trying my best.
Like many of you I have been known to have a negative view of myself. I am working on it. I am encouraging other women to see their true inner and outer beauty. They are encouraging me. It is an endless round.
I feel like I could say so many things about this topic. Mostly because body image, control, eating habits and the way people view them, are so completely different. I have been lucky, and I definitely feel lucky, to have never had any problems or issues with any of these things. Except for the year in college I didn’t have any money so I lived off of noodles and zucchini. I developed a vitamin and mineral deficiency because of it so my hair started to fall out. Sorry, off on a tangent.
I have been thin my whole life. Even when I was pregnant with my daughter I hit the 140 pound mark and that was it. I have since returned to the weight I was when I was 18 years old and I am almost 27.
I hear about one of the main issues with anorexia and bulimia being control. I have to say that I have a hard time understanding how that might possibly feel. I can’t even comprehend it. For me, it has been rather easy to eat right and exercise. I feel like that is how I control my life and my body.
I find it hard to comprehend why some don’t feel like controlling your eating habits and controlling your exercise habits are not good enough. I feel like I have great control of that. We all do! It is my life and I can control it! Then again, that is just me. Is it that it is easier to binge and purge?
I look up to everyone who has had to conquer this. It must take so much to overcome. I have decided that everyone has their problems and weaknesses to overcome in life. I would not wish mine on anyone and I would not want to take on the things cursed upon anyone else.
Everything I could say and any advice I have to give would be worthless. It is all up to me, and you as an individual. We know what we need to do and we will continue to work on our own individual devils inside us.
It is inspirational to read an essay on how someone could overcome something so addictive and destructive. I think it can help us overcome whatever problems we might be having in our lives, whether it’s bulimia, smoking, or chewing on our nails. We can overcome our weaknesses. It is relinquishing control of the negative and shoving the positive in it’s place.
Thanks for linking to this post cjane.
I’m going to be guilty of not reading all of the comments before I leave my own -for I am lazy.
But it does look like some lovely anonymous touched on what I wanted to say: eating disorders are diseases. It’s a sickness. It is not a weakness.
The engine of an eating disorder may get a jump-start from a poor body image, but there is so much more to it than just the typical American woman who thinks too much about her cellulite, and dwells a bit too often about her number on a scale.
I tire of the constant inflation of the phrase, “our bodies are temples.” Not that I don’t believe in it, but I hate to see it thrown around in the same context of, “oh why does she starve herself so? Her body is a TEMPLE!!! Doesn’t she get that?” Even the most sound of mind anorectic can apply logic and faith and even wisdom to her disease, and yet she’s still left without a real cure.
This reminds me of a time when I sat in Relief Society, and the R.S. Prez was giving the lesson. She was young and naive, yet she tried her best to oversee the needs of the single women in her ward. In her lesson, she brought up depression. I remember the way she diminished the disorder, and believed if someone read the scriptures hard enough, if they prayed more, if they decided to serve others and stop being so selfish, they would be healed. That there was no real need for medical help.
I wanted to raise my hand and say, “Should I apply that to every disease? What about cancer? Why is there shame in seeking medical treatment for some diseases or disorders, but not for others?”
If people can’t distinguish your disease with their own five senses, then it mustn’t be a reality. To the clinically depressed, “JUST SNAP OUT OF IT.” To the anorectics, “JUST EAT.”
Living righteously brings peace. Keeping the commandments allows hope. Our Savior’s love is inexhaustible. Applying the gospel to our lives is the best thing we can do for ourselves, no matter what our problems may be. But please, when it comes to something like anorexia -do not mistake the disease for a sin. An eating disorder does not lie in the same category as breaking the law of chastity.
Nearly everyday I find my fingers fondling my cottage cheese. I catch myself giving a disapproving glance to my ever-growing collection of blue spider veins creepy-crawly all over my legs. I scrutinize the field of behemothic pores that make up the skin on my face. And yet, I still have moments where I feel truly beautiful. I don’t mean vanity. I mean real beauty. And for those moments of beauty, I’m quite grateful, for I believe that it is how the Lord sees me.
May we pray to have such vision -to have our eyes opened, to see ourselves the way the Lord sees us. And to see the true beauty that dwells within each of our sisters.
My thoughts have been touched on briefly but I just want to emphasize the over simplification in Emily’s essay of turning to the Savior and finding a fabulous therapist who turned it all around for her in one season. That is great for her but not realistic or a time frame and scenario that those afflicted with this disease should expect.
The gospel can’t change your physiological/emotional make up or your experiences. Addiction has so many ramifications that adding spiritual empowerment to the mix is a dangerous cocktail for further damage and trauma. Please realize it is not that simplistic, nor a matter of faith. Many recovering substance abuse addicts replace their addictions with eating disorders.
Please recognize it’s very complex and the professionals in the recovery field are constantly studying all components of it–it is a matter of managing it more than getting over it. Some great advice and tips here for that aspect of the disease.
I haven’t really gotten the sense that everyone is just saying, “pray, and it’ll all be ok.” And Emily’s experience feels very genuine to me. Discounting her experience is just as damaging as discounting the experience of others.
While it’s true that addiction can’t just be magically wiped away by praying alot, prayer is sooo essential to healing ourselves, forgiving ourselves, loving ourselves. Just as it would be with any other disease, these trials implore us to turn to the Lord. While we should, and do, seek proper medical and therapeutical treatment, we are quietly invited to seek Him who can offer healing that no one else can offer.
And let’s be honest here, we all seek comfort/solace/control through something. Whether that be food, drugs, exercize, television, cooking, reading, whatever. I readily admit that one thing that drives me out the door each morning to run is the therapeutic nature of it. I seek control and balance through it.
I think respecting each other for the richness and diversity of our experiences will mightily aid in understanding each other better. We could all stand to draw nearer to the Savior, suffering or not.
This ended up being a pretty varied discussion on the body.
Anonymous #12 I believe misconstrued Darlene’s observation “from her experience” comparing her body to those of the people she viewed to be less caring of their bodies, yet they are able to move about more freely than her because of her physical limitations/sickness. Keep your chin up Darlene. I have experienced the pain of not being able to count on my body although I have cared for it better than many care for theirs. It is a hard lot and I feel your pain, mental & physical.
A friend once commented to me that in comparing ourselves to others in any way results in one of two things, either we pride ourselves in thinking we are better than others or we short change ourselves thinking we aren’t as good as others, either way we LOSE.
In my childhood (jr hi) I struggled with weight and the ugliness that is inflicted upon heavy people. I actually gained the weight when I moved across the state in the 4th grade and by then cliques were formed and I wasn’t getting in, no matter what, so I ate. I then was ridiculed, made fun of and the butt of jokes all through jr high for being fat. The only ones who would be my friends were the “stoners”, although I didn’t do drugs,they were very accepting of me in whatever shape I was. Then something happened that really blew my mind. I grew 3 inches and lost 50 lbs over the summer between jr hi and hi school. The first day of school no one recognized me. Suddenly I became the belle of the ball and everyone’s friend. I couldn’t get picked for a team at p.e. before and now I got picked first. So what happened? What was really troubling to me was that I was the same girl as before, just taller and thinner. I REALLY resented the change in treatment, and was basically confused deep inside. I began to use drugs to keep my self thin. I really lacked self confidence even though I was tall thin athletic and had started a modeling career. Inside I was a paranoid and troubled young woman.
Fast forward a few years. After having children I began to gain some weight and the fears of rejection began to resurface even though I took good care of myself with proper nutrition and excerise. Every once in a while the thought would come into my head that I needed the drugs to stay thin. I realized that I needed help and sought counseling and prayed each and every day to have the appetite of the Savior, not only for eating, but in every aspect of my life to have the appetite of the Savior, a concept that made sense to me and still does today.
Anorexia, bulimia, depression, cancer, kidney stones, chronic fatigue syndrome, need I go on, are all medical conditions that require great care on the part of professionals and the sufferer. The old Indian proverb of walking a mile in someone’s moccasins is wisely quoted.
Final note, I rediscovered D&C 84 (especially the first page of the Section - the part that in my opinion is the least emphasised but contains a wealth of information) again a couple of years ago after some serious health issues and when you think of conspiring men in a broader sense that whole section of scripture takes on a new meaning.
Here’s to our health! Physical, mental, emotional and last but not least spiritual.
Thank you Tami! For sharing, for summing it up so nicely! Amen to that.