05 Nov My Declaration of Self-Esteem (Virginia Satir)
Happily, it is possible to raise anyone’s self-esteem, no matter what one’s age or condition. Since the feeling of low worth has been learned, it can be unlearned, and something new learned in its place. The possibility for this learning lasts from birth to death, so it is never too late. At any point in a person’s life, she or he can begin to learn higher self-worth.
I mean this to be the most important message in this book: there is always hope that your life can change, because you can always learn new things. Human beings can grow and change all their lives/ it is a little harder as we grow older, and sometimes takes a little linger. It all depends on how set we choose to be in our ways. Knowing that change is possible and committing oneself to changing are first big steps. Some of us may be slow learners, but we are all educable.
This bit of prose contains my feelings and ideas about self-worth.
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 come 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 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 are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other aspects that I do not know. But as long as II am friendly and living to myself, I can courageously y 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 jeep that which proved fitting, and invent something new for that which I discarded.
I can see, hear, fee, 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 an things outside of me.
I own me, and therefore, I can engineer me.
I am me and I am okay.
The New Peoplemaking
Virginia Satir
