The Power of Choice

I am re-reading some of the business and personal success classics. As I was reviewing Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People last night, I was reminded of my own days of independence. By days of independence I am referring to those moments in time when you declare to make a choice that is harder, against the norm, ill advised by others, or against the grain of what you had done for so long. I've been wildly fortunate to make these declarations so many times in my life that they have now become the norm. My new norm, if you will. Pages 97-144 on Principles of Personal Leadership are my favorite. They discuss the importance of a personal mission statement to serve you, your business and your community. As I pondered this notion I was delighted to relive my discovery of a poem that changed my life.

In 1993 I went to Philadelphia to study at Temple University. They had a poster fair for students. I found one that had made a profound impact on my life. Its called I Am Me by Virginia Satire (1975). That poster hung in my dorm room, later my office, my homes #1, #2 and #3... It still hangs in my bedroom today, more than 15 years after I bought it. Its torn, written on and battered- but that makes it more powerful. I can't tell you how many times I've stopped my day to read it out loud to declare my choice and control on my destiny. It is my mantra. I believe what the poem says, that each of us have the power to change those things about ourselves that are unproductive, unattractive, unwanted, etc... You are your own engineer the poem says. I truly believe that. That belief has allowed me to make choices against the grain... with confidence and power. Here is the poem:

My Declaration of Self-Esteem
by Virginia Satir
I AM ME 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
© Virginia Satir, 1975.

Perhaps you need to read this mantra out loud too. Perhaps you also need to pick up the 7 Habits and give it another look as to how it belongs in your life today.

Open your life to new interpretations and revisit older inspirations.