Activities

• Keep a Positive Journal: You really need to let your feelings out in general, but sometimes we have a tendency to focus on the negatives or our self-doubts. If this is the case for you, keep a journal filled without nothing but positive thoughts about how you lived your life that day. Then, write positive things about what you will accomplish the next day—and then do them so you can write about it tomorrow! If you think positively and follow through on improving yourself, then you will develop a better sense of self-worth. You can return to the negative aspects of the journal, if you wish to keep it up, when you've got a better sense of self-worth.
• Surround Yourself with Positive People: If you can. Spend more time with the people who help you keep your sense of worth. You don't want a whole bunch of "yes men" necessarily, but you want to be around people who value you even when they criticize you. You can return to the non-abusive, negative people in your life after your dose of positivity. Of course responsibilities can get in the way of keeping those negative people out, but try to accomplish this as best you can.
• "Your Record" with a Twist: Make a list of all your positive traits and things you think people should love abut you. Then make a list of some weaknesses. Read your list of positive traits before you read through your negative traits, and make a goal to make a small improvement each day—make it realistic. At the end of the day, read the list starting with the positive traits, and put a check by them when you believe you demonstrated your good trait. Then put a check on the list every time you improve upon a weak point. I guess you could call this a positive version of the record used on this site that could be used instead when you are developing your dignity. It's just nice to visually see your good qualities as a list of growing checks (or stars, if you've always wanted a gold star).
• Treat Each Person You Meet Like They're Important: Dust off the skills from your high school acting class if you need to. You will gradually begin to feel that others are indeed more important over time and this is a good way to appear more "charismatic" to other people.
• Try to Look at the Problems of Other People as Important as Your Own: You can't give all people an equal part of your time, but I'm sure you always wished that more people paid attention to you when you were feeling down. Start giving others what you've always wished for yourself. This might mean spending quality time with a loved one that is suffering, helping a colleague who is struggling from a small catastrophe, or giving a kind word or smile to an acquaintance or stranger who seems to be feeling down. This is a great way to see outside of yourself and develop your sense of dignity in regards to others.

Your Record

Whenever you let someone else let you feel worthless, correct that problem and give yourself a "fault" for the day. Whenever you make someone else feel worthless, or diminish their dignity, then mark yourself at fault. Make some goals based on the activities above, and mark yourself at fault when you fail to keep up with an activity or fail to reach a goal.

Opinions

I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, human liberty as the source of national action, the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th American President

What should move us to action is human dignity: the inalienable dignity of the oppressed, but also the dignity of each of us. We lose dignity if we tolerate the intolerable.

Dominique de Menil, French-American Museum Founder and Supporter of Human Rights

I would say that the surest measure of a man's or a woman's maturity is the harmony, style, joy, and dignity he creates in his marriage, and the pleasure and inspiration he provides for his spouse.

Benjamin Spock, Well-Known American Pediatrician and Author

When you're a beautiful person on the inside, there is nothing in the world that can change that about you. Jealousy is the result of one's lack of self-confidence, self-worth, and self-acceptance. The Lesson: If you can't accept yourself, then certainly no one else will.

Sasha Azevedo, American Actress and Model

Golden Mean

Recommended Reading

Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life — by Judith Orloff

The psychiatrist author of this book teaches how to develop your positive emotions and reduce your toxic ones. She intends to help you overcome your negative emotions such as fear and anxiety and find emotional balance.

The Self-Esteem Workbook — by Glenn R. Schiraldi

This workbook is written as a course on building self-esteem along with tips and activities to help you reach your goals. It also has advice on avoiding relapse into more negative thinking.

Learning to Love Yourself: Finding Your Self-Worth — by Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse

Finding Your Self-Worth: Learning to love yourself is important, and this book aims to do just that. Written by the director of a clinic that treats chemical dependencies and family problems.