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A Healthy Family How different it is to be with a nurturing family. Immediately, I can sense the aliveness, the genuineness, honesty, and love. I feel the heart and soul present as well as the head. I feel that if I lived in such a family, I would be listened to and would be interested in listening to others, I would be considered and would wish to consider others, I could openly show my affection as well as my pain and disapproval, I wouldn't be afraid to take risks because everyone in my family would realize that some mistakes are bound to come with my risk-taking --- that my mistakes are a sign that I am growing. I would feel like a person in my own right --- noticed, valued, loved, and clearly asked to notice, value, and love others. One can actually see and hear the vitality in such a family. The bodies are graceful, the facial expressions relaxed. People look at one another, not through one another or at the floor, and they speak in rich, clear voices. There is a flow and harmony in their relations with one another. Members of a nurturing family feel free to tell each other how they feel. Anything can be talked about --- the disappointments, fears, hurts, angers, criticisms as well as the joys and achievements... Nurturing families show evidence of planning, but if something interferes with the plan, they can readily make adjustments. This way they are able to handle more of life's problems without panicking... In a nurturing family it is easy to pick up the message that human life and human feelings are more important than anything else. These parents see themselves as leaders, not bosses, and they see their job as primarily one of teaching their child how to be truly human in all situations. Virginia Satir
My Declaration of Self-Esteem
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