Instead of waiting for stress or illness to come and then reacting to it, set goals and structure life in ways that are mostly likely to forge a healthy foundation. The following nine steps to greater happiness and better mental health are presented as guideline to encourage you to take a more active role in your own life and to create a more positive psychological environment for yourself and others. Think of the steps as year-round resolutions.
与其等压力或疾病自己找上门时再去应付，不如设定目标来健康地组织你的生活。下面9步可以带来更多的快乐和更好的精神健康，可以作为一种指导，鼓励你更加积极地生活，并为你自己和他人创建一个更加积极的心理环境。下面的步骤可以在一年内实施。
- Never say bad things about yourself. Look for sources of your unhappiness in elements that can be modified by future actions. Give yourself and others only constructive criticism —— what can be done differently next time to get what you want?
永远不要说关于你的不好的事情。寻找那些你将来采取行动可以加以改变的不快乐的根源。只给你自己和他人建设性的批评－下次应该采取什么不同的做法来得到你想要的东西？
- Compare your reactions, thoughts and feelings with those of friends, co-workers, family members and others so that you can gauge the appropriateness and relevance of your response against a suitable social norm.
将你的反应、想法和感受同你的朋友、同事、家庭成员以及其他人进行比较，从而使你可以估计出自己行为的适宜性以及你的反应和适宜的社会规范的关系。
- Have several close friends with whom you can share feelings, joys and worries. Work at developing, maintaining and expanding your social support networks.
结交一些密友，你可以同他们分享感受、快乐和忧虑。致力于发展、保持和拓展你的社会支持网络。
- Developing a sense of balanced time perspective in which you can flexibly focus on the demands of the task, the situation, and your needs; be future oriented when there is work to be done, present oriented when the goal is archieved and pleasure is at hand, and past orented to keey you in touch with your roots.
发展一种平衡时间的观点，从而可以灵活地对待你的工作、环境的要求和自身需求。有工作在手时请面向未来，目标达到、有快乐在握时请珍惜现在，和你的老友联系时请珍惜过去。
- Always take full credit for your sucesses and happiness(and share positive feelings with other people). Keep an inventory of all the qualities that make you special and unique —— those qualities you can offer others. For example, a shy person can provide a talkative person with the gift of attentive listening. Know your sources of personal strength and available coping resources.
永远对你的成功和快乐充满信心（并且和他人分享你的积极感受）。清楚地了解你独特的、与众不同的品质－那些你可以提供给他人的品质。例如，一个害羞的人可以给一个善谈者提供专注的倾听。了解你的个人优势和可以有效进行应对的资源。
- When you feel you are losing control over your emotions, distance youself from the situation by physically leaving it, role-playing the position of another person in the situation or conflict, projecting your imagination into the future to gain perspective on what seems an overwhelming problem now, or talking to a a sympathetic listener. Allow youself to feel and express your emotions.
当你感觉你就要对自己的情绪失去控制时，请用离开的办法避开使你不快的环境，或者站在另一个人的立场考虑一下，或者设想未来，使你看到问题得以克服的前景，或者向一个同情者加以倾诉。请允许你自己感受和表达自己的情绪。
- Remember that failure and disappointment are sometimes blessing in disguise. They may tell you that your goals are not right for you or may save you from bigger letdowns later on. Learn from every failure. Acknowledge setbacks by saying, ‘I made a mistake’, and move on. Every accident, misfortune or violation of your expectations is potentially a wonderful oppportunity in disguise.
记住失败和失望有时是伪装下的祝福。它们可以告诉你目标可能并不适合你，或者救你于未来更大的失败之前。吃一堑，长一智。遭受挫折后说一句“我犯了个错误”，再继续前进。你所经历的每一次事故、不幸和挫折实际上都是一个潜在的美妙机会，只是它们未以真面目示人。
- If you discover you cannot help yourself or another person in distress, seek the counsel of a trained specialist in your student health department or community. In some cases, a problem that appears to be psychological may really be physical and vice versa. Check out your student mental health services before you need them, and use them without concern about being stigmatised.
如果你发现你无法使自己或他人走出忧郁，那就向学校或社区的健康部门受过训练的专业人员寻求建议。在某些情况下，有些看上去的心理问题实际上是生理问题，有些则正好相反。在你需要它们之前就了解一下你的学生心理健康服务内容，而在运用它们时不必有任何被诬蔑的疑虑。
- Cultivate healthy pleasures. Take time out to relax, to meditate, to get a message, to fly a kite and to enjoy hobbies and activities you can do alone and that help you get in touch with and better appreciate yourself.
培养健康的愉悦。花些时间去放松、去反省、去收集信息、去放风筝、去享受你的爱好、去进行一些可以独处的活动，以及那些你可以做到并得到更好的享受的活动。
Psychology and Life, Chapter 13 Emotion, stress and health, by Richard J Gerrig, Philip G Zimbardo, Andrew J Campbell, Steven R Cumming, Fiona J Wilkes
《心理学与生活》第16版