What do you see when you look at yourself in the mirror?
What are your strengths? If somebody asked you, "So, tell me about your strengths." Would you tell the person confidently? Would you pause and hesitate for a while?
I would like to share the poem written by a well-known family therapist, Virginia Satir with you. You may feel your inner strengths when you read it out loud. Reading this poem aloud makes you aware of who you really are.
My Declaration of Self-Esteem
by Virginia Satir
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
Found in Virginia Satir, Self Esteem, Celestial Arts: California, 1975.
P.S. You may choose to read it everyday and tell yourself you're okay. Or, you may even change the last sentence to "I AM GOOD".
You are good.Affirm yourself daily with positive words or phrases, e.g. "I am good", "I am worthy", "I am beautiful", "I am handsome", "I love myself", "I respect myself", "I am a happy person", etc. Smile at yourself in the mirror maybe the first thing you want to do everyday after you wake up in the morning.
Some positive words you may like to use to describe yourself.
Stop telling yourself that you are not worthy or worse if compared with others. You ARE YOU, the only YOU in the planet who is totally unique. You could never find someone who is exactly like you, not even your twin sister or your twin brother.
List down your strengths on a piece of paper.Feel good about yourself. :)
Here is a link of a psychological quiz you may like to try out:
