I have been recently introduced to the great works of Virginia Satir. I believe that her work is fruitful and refreshing for all those pursuing work with the goal of interacting with others. For myself, I know my intentions are to work in the fields of peacebuilding and conflict resolution. With that in mind, it is imperative for me to know myself in order to help others pursue the same journey. Gratitude and self-awareness are key to help yourself and others. Without those two elements, your endeavours will lack substance. The degree of how genuine your acts truly are will be questioned. But if you allow yourself to listen and assert who you are in your field, you will attract positive results in your interactions with others.
This post is short but I have included a brief article by Virginia Satir. This brief blurb demonstrates how we are ever-changing and that we have the choice whether or not to discard certain habits or perspectives that are not fitting to who we truly are. Your authenticity as a human being is what helps you attract others in a positive and productive way. Read it and see how it applies to you.
My Declaration of Self Esteem
I am Me. In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me.
Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine, because I alone chose it --
I own everything about me: my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions,
whether they be to others or myself. I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears.
I own 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
all my parts. I know there are 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 solutions to the
puzzles and 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 authentically me. If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought,
and felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is unfitting, keep the rest, 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.
