Developing Self-Confidence 培養自信

Confidence is a feeling—an inner fire and an outer radiance1, a basic satisfaction with what one is plus a reading out to become more. Confidence is not something a few people are born with and others are not, for it is an acquired characteristic.

自信是一種感覺—一種來自內心的火焰和外在的燦爛，使人們可以獲得更多基本的滿足感。自信不是某些人天生就有而另一些人沒有，它是后天培養起來的性格。

Confidence is the personal possession of no one; the person who has it learns it – and goes on learning. The most gifted individual on earth has to construct confidence in his gifts from the basis of faith and experience, like anybody else. The tools will differ from one person to the next, but the essential task is the same. Confidence and pose are available2 to us all according to our abilities and needs – not somebody else’s – provided we utilize our gifts and expand them.

自信不是任何人的私有財產;人們通過學習獲得自信并且堅持繼續學習。這個世界上最聰明的人也要像其他人一樣，在信念和經歷的基礎上來培養自信。一個人和另一個人用的工具可能不同，但是核心的任務是一樣的。倘若運用我們的才智并使之不斷增長，依靠我們自己的而不是別人的能力和需求，我們就可以做到自信和沉著冷靜。

One of the most rewarding3 aspects of confidence is that it sits gracefully on every age and level of life – on children, men, women, the famous, the obscure4, rich, poor, artist, executive, teen-ager, the very old. And you can take it with you into old age. There is nothing more inspiring than an old person who maintains his good will, humor, and faith in himself, in others, in the future. Conversely, the root cause of old people’s despair is feeling of not being wanted, of nothing to contribute, no more to conquer and become.

自信最令人滿意的方面之一是它不分年齡和生活水準不懈地跟隨我們每個人—小孩，男人，女人，名人，平凡人，富人，窮人，藝術家，行政人員，青少年，老人。你還可以把自信帶入老年。再沒有比一個老人能夠保持對自己，對別人和未來懷有美好意愿、心情、信念更能鼓舞人心的了。相反，老人絕望的根本原因是不被需要，無所貢獻，無所征服和無所成就的感覺。

Most people have more to work with than they realize. One noted physicist calls this unused excellencies and finding and releasing this potential in ourselves is one of the major challenges of modern life. The great danger is not that we shall overreach our capacities but that we shall undervalue and under-employ them, thus blighting5 our great possibilities.

大多數人都比他們意識到的更大有可為。一位著名的物理學家把它稱之為未被利用的優點，找到并且釋放我們身上的這些潛能是當代生活中重要的挑戰之一。最多的危險不是我們高估我們的能力，而是我們會低估并且不能充分利用這些能力，這會破壞我們的潛能。