"Stop punishing the rest of the world. Feel good about yourself!"
"The world is a better place because you are here!"
"Your human birthright is to add to the positive vibrations in the world."
"Human beings are a manifestation of a divine force. There is nothing else like it in the whole world."
"Listen and hear people without judging. People want to be heard and touched."
These are just some of the things Virginia said concerning yourself and others when doing what she was best at "people-making."
Virginia said, "If there was just one gift I could give the world it would be that every human being is a treasure to be explored by themselves and others."
Sharing, caring, touching and facilitating meaningful interaction between people is what Virginia was about. Virginia Satir was a pioneer in family therapy, an internationally acclaimed group leader and therapist. Her book People-Making sold 700,000 copies and has been translated into 12 foreign languages.
Salvador Minuchin, M.D. (Professor of Psychiatry and Family Studies at New York, NY) said of Virginia: "No one has transcended better than Virginia Satir the problem of taking family therapy to the public."
In a day when psychiatrists and therapists are failing in dealing with marriage and the family, Virginia gives us a new approach and perspective.
In Virginia Satir's book The New People-Making, she writes:
"When I was five, I decided that when I grew up I'd be a "children's detective on parents." I didn't quite know what I would look for, but 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."
"Now many years later, after working with some thousands of families, I find there are still a lot of puzzles. I have learned from my work, and learning opens up new possibilities and new directions for discovery. It is now clear to me that the family is a microcosm of the world. To understand the world, we can study the family: issues such as power, intimacy, autonomy, trust, and communication skills are vital parts underlying how we live in the world. To change the world is to change the family."
"Family life is something like an iceberg: most people are aware of only about one-tenth of what is going on--the tenth that they can see and hear. Not knowing can set the family on a dangerous course. Just as a sailor's fate depends on knowing that the bulk of the iceberg is under the water, so a family's fate depends on understanding the feelings and needs that lie beneath everyday family events."
Thoughts and feelings beneath the surface are very real to us personally in our own inner world. However what goes on within the hearts and minds of others is primarily unknown to us apart from a communicative revealing by people wherein they disclose pieces of themselves.
As we learn to be more accepting of ourselves and our own humanity, we will in turn become more transparent with others and accepting of their humanity. Upon arriving at a place of personal acceptance of ourselves and others, life can be a celebration of diversity rather than a continual fixation with our identity. At the point of personal celebration there is love, life and liberation.
Recommended book:
The New Peoplemaking
Virginia Satir writes in an easy to relate to style about positive ways to support and encourage growth, development and understanding of the people in your family. Through simple games she helps you get in touch with what the existing relationships are among your family members and how they work, or why they may not be working as well as they might. She reaffirms that we own all of the parts of ourselves that make us who we are, and makes it easy and OK to take a look at them. Perhaps there are some behaviors that are puzzling, or get negative results that you see in yourself or other family members. After reading this book, you will see loving and comfortable ways to bring those behaviors into the light of day without criticism or embarrassment. Then, following simple but meaningful guidelines, you and your family will gain understanding and insight into behaviors and relationships that your family uses as its operating system. You will be able to work on changes that you decide to make, and continue to feel trust and support of your family. Perhaps they want to change some things too.
