Quotes By Virginia Satir To Reflect
Virginia Satir’s quotes tell us about change, affection and relationships. They are a gift of love and warmth dedicated to those who love to reflect on the importance of reconnecting with themselves and with others.
Virginia Satir, a social worker, psychotherapist and writer, has devoted much of her energy to family therapy. In 1959 he founded with Don Jackson, Jules Runkin and Gregory Bateson the Mental Research Institute (MRI) in Palo Alto, one of the most prestigious psychotherapy schools in the United States, where the systemic approach was devised. Here she was the director of the training school and took part in the creation of the first formal family therapy program.
Those who knew her describe her as a woman capable of transmitting warmth, engaged in important issues such as communication and self-esteem, and who added feeling and compassion to the relationship between patient and therapist.
For Satir, attention and acceptance are fundamental elements to help the patient face his fears and open his heart to others. He regarded love as the most powerful therapeutic weapon. It is also known for its change process model.
His most read books are The new peoplemaking. Guide to healthy relationships in the family and with others , How are you doing in the family? : Living Relationships in a Meaningful Way , Making Contact and Your Many Faces: The First Step to Being Loved.
We have selected some of the most beautiful quotes by Virgina Satir to reflect from her theoretical perspective.
Quotes by Virginia Satir
The importance of attitude towards life
Sometimes life doesn’t match our desires and expectations, quite the opposite. We must not, however, stop fighting or trying to find our way. We cannot always change events, but we can decide with what attitude to face them.
Life bursts in, happens and goes on without asking for permission. How we walk our path determines our mood and, of course, our outlook on life.
The courage to define yourself
We receive advice, opinions and requests every day. People often try to define us and tell us what we can do and what not. This becomes a problem when we attribute the value of absolute truth to the words of others and adapt to them. In doing so, we live by principles that are not ours, without giving ourselves the opportunity to understand who we are.
Why define ourselves based on the opinion that others have made of us? Is it more valuable than what we think of ourselves? The vision of others is limited by experience, by beliefs, by fears. Other people cannot know more about our identity, our abilities or our potential than we do, and even less about our limitations and fears.
The power of hugs
This is one of the Virginia Satir quotes that best describes the importance of affection and attention in our relationships. Hugging is a small gesture, but full of warmth if it comes from the heart. It is one of the greatest emotional supports when we are children and a gentle way to caress the souls of others when we are adults.
A hug is a powerful emotional food necessary for our relationships, a great means of communication, a wonderful way to give love to the people who matter to us.
The importance of believing in ourselves
Learning is linked to the belief that you are capable of it. If we deny ourselves the opportunity to learn something new, to pass an exam, to give a speech or, simply, to drive or cook a dish, we will hardly succeed.
The most important ingredient in achieving our goals is often the belief that we can do it. If we’re not on our side, if we don’t cheer for us, who will? And even when, for whatever reason, we don’t get the desired result, we have to look for new alternatives.
Authenticity as a fundamental pillar
These are words to be taken into account every day. We are all different. Each of us follows our own path and has a story behind it. Comparing ourselves to others is useless: we are not in the same condition. The best thing to do is to appreciate the authenticity we have within us and which, if valued, we are able to show to others.
Change comes from us
One of Virginia Satir’s quotes reminds us that forcing others to change, demanding different behavior, what we consider best, doesn’t work. True change does not arise from a sense of duty or a desire to please someone, but from within, from a sincere need to change.
We often expect others to behave according to our wishes, but it is mostly a way to belittle their authenticity. In healthy relationships, the norm is not to change the other, but to accept them. If something in the behavior of others irritates us, the best choice is to communicate it and leave the decision to change in their hands.
Difficulties as opportunities
An obstacle is always accompanied by an opportunity for growth. We may not catch a glimpse of it at first, but as time goes by it is always possible to receive a life lesson from a difficult situation and from the way in which we have dealt with it.
Often a problem is nothing more than a situation in which we do not see clearly how to move, how to deal with it, in which perhaps we think we do not have enough strength to deal with it. Analyzing how we deal with it is one of the ways to create something different and learn from it.
Conscious love
As a closing to Virginia Satir’s best quotes, we invite you to reflect on the meaning of sincere contact with ourselves and with others; this thought taken from the book Making contact enhances the importance of feeling loved and appreciated by ourselves and by the people we respect most.
Virginia Satir’s quotes are an invitation to love as a pillar of self-esteem and interpersonal relationships. A powerful legacy to be taken into consideration for our personal and social growth.
