An oldie but a goodie :-)

In going through some old files and books in my office, I came across this little nugget of wisdom.  I remember first reading this when a prof handed it out to one of our social work classes in the late eighties.  It was originally written by Virginia Satir in 1970.  Anyone who has training in social work/counselling has probably heard of Virginia Satir, as she was very well known as a pioneer, especially in her work with children.  If I am remembering correctly, this "Declaration of Self Esteem" was originally meant for kids but I think it is filled with thought-provoking wisdom for all of us.  I know as I re-read it now, twenty-some years after I first read it, it had an impact on me once again.

My Declaration of Self-Esteem



I am me.


In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me. There are persons who have some parts like me, but no one adds up exactly like me. Therefore, everything that comes out of me is authentically mine because I alone chose it.


I own everything about me – my body, including everything it does; my mind, including all its thoughts and ideas; my eyes, including the images of all they behold; my feelings, whatever they may be – anger, joy, frustration, love, disappointment, excitement; my mouth, and all the words that come out of it, polite, sweet, or rough, correct or incorrect; my voice, loud or soft; and all my actions, whether they be to others or to myself.


I own all my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears.


I own all my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes.


Because I own all of me, I can become intimately acquainted with me. By so doing I can love me and be friendly with me in all my parts. I can then make it possible for all of me to work in my best interests.


I know there aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other aspects that I do not know. But as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously and hopefully look for the solutions to the puzzles and for ways to find out more about me.


However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is me. This is authentic and represents where I am at that moment in time.


When I review later how I looked and sounded, what I said and did, and how I thought and felt, some parts may turn out to be unfitting. I can discard that which is unfitting, and keep that which proved fitting, and invent something new for that which I discarded.


I can see, hear, feel, think, say and do. I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me.


I own me, and therefore I can engineer me.


I am me and I am okay.


Virginia Satir. December 1970.