Body Image

Lindsay Prigmore
Jun 7, 2022
3 min read

Updated: Sep 8, 2023

Rewire Your Thoughts

You do not need fixed just because you have acne, or skin rolls, or you're "too" short, or have a big nose, or touching thighs. You do NOT need fixed. There is no definition of real beauty. Who told you what your image should be? Where did you get that perspective on your body? Your beauty and your body is so much more than what the world tells you it is. SO. MUCH. MORE.

The love and confidence of your true self and spirit is the most alluring beauty ever seen. Have you tried loving your body -- not comparing or judging, but truly loving? The world doesn't want you to love yourself. Why do you think the beauty industry is one of the biggest in the world? When you judge your looks with another you don't feel confident, and then you'll buy anything to fix that.

Rethinking Beauty

"Happiness comes from accepting the bodies we have been given as divine gifts and enhancing our natural attributes, not from remaking our bodies after the image of the world." -A Gospel Perspective on Body Image

The Lord wants us to be made over, but in His image, not the world's. Body trends are going to continue to change. You're constantly surrounded by the world's standards of your body. Everything from the shape of your eyebrows to how big your butt should look. You can't turn your head without being pressured or scrutinized on how to eat, look, or dress a certain way just so you can look better than the human next to you. That's not the Lord's standard of what your focus should be.

"You are beautiful and glorious just as you are. You have divinity in you. God's final creation was His most beautiful and impressive...human beings. So yes, progress, yes achieve, yes learn and grow and repent, but don't demean or insult God by demeaning or insulting His best work: YOU!" -Hank Stewart. And might I add, do not demean or insult God by demeaning or insulting others.

Why Do We Try to Hide Our Flaws?

We hide our flaws, our face, our age, as if no one else has them either. You have been criticizing yourself for years and that never works. Try approving of yourself and see what happens next. Hating our bodies is something that we learn, and it's definitely something we can unlearn. The most powerful thing in the world is what we say to ourselves. It's time to STOP criticizing God's handiwork and START letting the light shine out of the masterpiece you've been given.

What is Real Beauty?

President Heber C. Kimball talks about how the Devil and his followers will only enter into smart bodies and will not enter into inferior bodies. He goes on to talk about the beauty of a person and says, "He was one of the most lovely men I ever saw, especially when the Spirit of God was in him." Lucifer is indeed intelligent and he wants to bring down the best spirits. As we strengthen our real beauty, (our spirit), we are also more equipped to face him head-on and win. A smart body is a strong spirit.

And you know what? Satan doesn't get a body. Ever. So of course the number one thing he wants to destroy and distort is your perspective of what your perfect gift from God should look like or be like.

I've been surrounded by the way the Lord defines beauty since I was a child. Every time I sang, "I am a Child of God" I've known His love for me, but also for EVERYONE. Someone close to me once said, "Some of the most beautiful spirits are put into the handicapped bodies and minds." Our bodies are so beautiful and diverse, and they are the most precious and perfect gift from God in every form. I thank my Father in Heaven every day for my body and what it has done for me, because it's done so much. Through thick and thin, literally, it's done everything for me. I LOVE my body. I LOVE my spirit. I love being me. I truly love being me.

EveryBODY

What flaws do you despise about yourself? Instead let's find love for them. What is it that makes you judge others? Instead let's love them. Let's win this battle together. But it starts with you. You will continue to criticize others when you don't love yourself first. So start loving.

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you be something else is the greatest accomplishment.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson