My Declaration of Self

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 fanatasies,
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.