My Declaration of Self Esteem

by Virginia Satir

I AM ME

In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me

Everything that comes out of me is authentically me

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 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 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 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 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,

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, 1975.