Daily Celebrations ~ Virginia Satir, Limited Perceptions ~ June 26 ~ Ideas to motivate, educate, and inspire (original) (raw)

~� Limited PerceptionsYour Many Faces

"We must not allow other people's limited perceptions to define us." ~ Virginia Satir

Psychologist Virginia Pagenkopf Satir (1916-1988) was born on this day on a farm in Neillsville, Wisconsin. She said she learned the importance of honesty from her father and how to help others from her mother.

With compassion and the desire to help empower people to reach their full potential, she was one of the first to initiated the concept of family therapy, with the goal of reframing perceptions and finding and building on relationship strengths.

"When I was five, I decided that when I grew up I'd be a children's detective on parents," she wrote in her groundbreaking book New Peoplemaking. "I realized a lot went on in families that didn't meet the eye. There were a lot of puzzles I did not know how to understand."

Satir published her first book, Conjoint Family Therapy in 1964. Her philosophy was positive and uplifting and she worked hard to help others build self-esteem, celebrating hope and possibility. "High self-worth means being able to respond to people but not be defined by them," she said.

Toward the end of her life, this integrative humanist developed the concept of "third birth," where systematic self-learning brings about self-actualization. "We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth," Satir said.

In 1977, Satir founded the Avanta Network, an international forum for developing and sharing skills and training. The Satir Model lives on...

She said, "I am Me. I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears. I own my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistake...I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive...I am me, and I am okay."

You are limitless.