A Goal of Living¨

 

                                             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.

I have some parts like others

But I don’t add up to be exactly like anyone else.

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 it’s thoughts and ideas;

My eyes –including the image of all my eyes behold;

My feelings – whatever they may be –

Anger,

Joy,

Frustration,

Love,

Disappointment,

Excitement;

My mouth – and all that comes out of it . . . . . . .

Words, polite, sweet, or rough . . .

Correct or incorrect;

My voice – loud or soft;

And

All my actions - 

Whether they be to others or myself.

 

I own all my triumphs and successes,

All my failures and mistakes.

 

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

 

Because I own all of me,

I can become intimately acquainted with me.

Being very well acquainted with me,

I can love me

And

Be friendly with me in all my parts.

 

In being well acquainted with myself,

Loving myself and being friendly with myself,

I can make it possible for me to work in my best interests.

 

I know there are some aspects of myself I do not know,

And

There are parts of me that puzzle me.

 

As long as I am friendly and loving to myself,

I can, courageously and hopefully, look for the solutions to the puzzles

And

Continuously look for ways to find out more about me –

How I look and sound,

What I say and do,

And

How I think and feel.

 

No one else looks and sounds,

Says and does,

And

Thinks and feels

Exactly like me.

 

However I look and sound,

Whatever I say and do,

And

Whatever I think and feel at a given moment

Is me.

 

When I review late how I looked and sounded,

What I said and did,

And

How I thought and felt,

Parts may turn out to be unfitting

And

I can discard that which is unfitting

And

Keep that which proved fitting

And

Invent something new for that which I discarded.

 

I am me

And

I am okay.

 

I own me

And

Therefore

I can engineer me.

 

I can learn all new things that I need

And

Discard all the things that no longer fit.

 

I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do. 

I

Will then 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.

 

                                  Virginia M. Satir