作者： Jerry Lopper翻译：breezychaoResearch studies show that high self esteem is good for your health and happiness. These brief daily activities can be helpful in raising self esteem研究表明高度自信有助于个人健康和幸福。以下几个小活动会帮助你提升自信心。If life seems boring and depressing, perhaps a big dose of daily self esteem help is just the spark you need for a happier life. The self esteem activities suggested here take just a few minutes each day and research studies indicate high self esteem is beneficial to your health.如果生活看起来枯燥和沉闷，或许一剂日常自尊药方会将你的生活点亮，过上幸福生活。本文推荐的树立自信的活动每天只需花上几分钟时间，而研究表明研究表明高度自信有助于个人健康。Research Studies 调研研究Self esteem correlates with happiness and life satisfaction according to psychological researcher Christopher Peterson, author of A Primer in Positive Psychology. The higher your self esteem, the greater your reported happiness and satisfaction with life. The converse is also true, lower self esteem correlates with low life satisfaction and happiness. It behooves us to be aware of our own feeling of self esteem, taking steps to improve it when we’re feeling down.根据《积极心理学初级读本 A Primer in Positive Psychology》作者，心理学研究者 Christopher Peterson 的调查研究发现，自尊与幸福和生活满足感息息相关。你越是自信，你在生活中就感到更多的幸福感和满足感。反之亦然，越不自信的人，幸福感和满足感程度就越低。这就要求我们意识到我们自信的程度，当感到不够自信时，采取以下步骤来改善：Improving Relationships 改善人际关系Researcher David Schmitt, PhD, associate professor of Bradley University’s Psychology Department, reports that high self esteem also correlates with relationships. When we have strong relationships we feel better about ourselves than when our relationships are troublesome. Strong relationships, strong self esteem.布拉德利大学心理学院的副教授，研究者David Schmitt博士认为，自信跟人际关系也有联系。当我们有稳固的人际关系时，会比人际关系出现问题时对自己感觉更好。人际关系越稳固，个人越自信。Start with Compassion 从学会同情开始A good building block for improving self esteem is to first work to grant self-compassion. Research studies suggest “it should be easier to teach people with low self-esteem to be self-compassionate than to teach them to have higher self-esteem,” reports WebMD Medical News reviewer Brunilda Nazario, MD, August 22, 2005.提高自信的一个好办法是学会自我安慰。Brunilda Nazario（WebMD医学新闻的评论家）在2005年8月22日的文章中说，研究发现 “教一个自信心不高的人学会自我安慰比教他们如何提高自信要容易。”Try These Daily Self Esteem Building Activities 尝试一下以下日常提高自信的方法：•Reinforce your close relationships with high quality contact each day. Give something of yourself to people you care about. A few sincere words of appreciation, a few minutes of compassionate listening, or an earnest offer of help to an elderly or shut-in friend or relative will pay big dividends to both parties.•对于亲密的家人或朋友，每天保持高质量的联络。每天都花点时间在你在乎的人身上—几句欣赏的真心话，几分钟富有同情的倾听，或者对长者/被困屋内的朋友或亲戚的真心帮助，这些都会给双方带来莫大的好处的。•Give yourself a break. We’re often much harder on ourselves than we are on others. Don’t expect perfection of yourself. Be forgiving of your human errors and treat them with humor rather than disdain or anger. Refrain from demeaning self talk. Instead, remind yourself that you normally make very few mistakes.•让自己休息一下。我们总是对自己严厉，对他人宽松。不要期望自己会十全十美。原谅自己犯下的错误，对它们一笑了之，而非不屑或震怒。不要认为自言自语会有损形象，时常提醒自己其实你犯的错已经很少了。•Savor your good memories. Keep a mental or literal file of good memories and visit them often. Naturally nostalgic people have high self-esteem and are less prone to depression. Thinking of good memories for just 20 minutes a day can make people more cheerful than they were the week before, and happier than if they think of their current lives, report researchers from Loyola University (WebMD Feature from “Psychology Today” Magazine, Marina Krakovsky: WebMD’s depression help center).•品味美好回忆。在脑海中或者书面地记录一些美好回忆，时常拿出回味。习惯怀旧的人有很高的自信，很少会感到沮丧。Loyola大学的研究者的报告说：“每天只需花上20分钟来品味那些美好的回忆，这会让你比想当下的生活更开心和幸福。”•Snap back from negative events. Bad things will happen; that’s part of life. Foster an attitude of resilience and positive thinking to help you snap back from negative thinking just as quickly as you can. Positive thinking yields positive life events, and vice-versa.•从消极的事件中快速走出。坏事不可避免，它是生活的一部分。培养自己的复原能力，积极的想法会帮你最快地走出消极情绪。积极的想法会为生活带来积极的结果，反之亦然。In just a few minutes each day you can build your self esteem and reap the rewards of greater happiness and life satisfaction. Be your own best friend not your worst enemy.每天只需几分钟你就可以树立起自信，收获更多的幸福和生活满足感。做自己最好的朋友，而非最坏的敌人。译者注：关于self-esteemSelf-Esteem在中文里往往被译成“自尊”，这是心理学研究中通行的翻译。但是在英语国家的日常生活和日常语言里，self-esteem是“自信”的意思。这个自信，是建立在恰当的自我评价上的自信，而不是confidence所指的觉得自己能行的那种感觉。其与confidence的区别在，一个强调观念，一个强调感觉。