Editorial November 8, 1993 Issue

Self-conscious?

Barbara M. Vining

It's no fun always to be concerned about what other people think of you. I know. But when I was in the tenth grade I had an insight that shifted my concern for myself to concern for others and made my life much more enjoyable.

I was getting ready for school one morning when the thought came: "My classmates are probably much more occupied with concern about what other people think of them than they are about what they think of me. So, instead of worrying about whether they like me, why don't I treat them in a way that shows that I like them?" That day, instead of walking down the school hallways feeling like an unpopular misfit and waiting for others to show an interest in me, I took the initiative and greeted others in a caring way. It was a good feeling—an important turning point in my life and in my relationships with others.

The increased self-confidence I felt when I shifted my attention from self-concern to caring for others came from obeying spiritual law, though I didn't consciously realize at the time that this was what I was doing. My action was a manifestation of what is commonly called the Golden Rule—Christ Jesus' teaching "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them" (Matt. 7:12). Obedience to spiritual law increases our feelings of self-worth because in obeying we become conscious of our true being and of our purpose under the law of God—to be the very expression of divine Love.

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