13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do: Take Back Your Power, Embrace Change, Face Your Fears, and Train Your Brain for Happiness and Success

by Amy Morin

time doesn’t heal anything; it’s how we deal with that time that determines the speed at which we heal.

You can have all the good habits in the world, but if you keep doing the bad habits alongside the good ones, you’ll struggle to reach your goals. Think of it this way: you’re only as good as your worst habits.

We make our best decisions in life when we balance our emotions with rational thinking.

Mental strength is about thinking realistically and rationally.

replace your original thought with something more realistic like, Some bad things happen to me, but plenty of good things happen to me as well.

While feeling sorry for yourself is about thinking I deserve better, gratitude is about thinking I have more than I deserve.

Choosing to forgive someone who has hurt you, either emotionally or physically, doesn’t mean you have to excuse the other person’s behavior, but letting go of your anger frees you to focus your energy on a more worthwhile cause.

Just because one person thinks something, it doesn’t make it true. Don’t give one person’s opinion of you the power to determine who you are.

Every minute that she argued with her daughter was one more minute her daughter could put off cleaning her room. Each time she lost her temper, Rachel gave away some of her power. Instead of controlling her daughter’s behavior, Rachel was giving her daughter power to control her.

Over the years, many studies have shown that holding a grudge keeps your body in a state of stress.

Doing something different means giving something up.

If you start by changing your life, you can begin to make a difference in the lives of other people.

Trying to control everything usually starts out as a way to manage anxiety. If you know you have everything under control, what’s there to worry about?

Rather than delegating a task to a coworker, or trusting a spouse to run an errand, we often choose to do it ourselves to make sure it will be “done right” because we don’t trust in other people’s capabilities.

Worrying about things outside of your control wastes mental energy.

Listen first, speak second.

it’s not your job to prevent them from feeling negative emotions. Just because someone gets mad, it doesn’t necessarily mean you did anything wrong.

the only thing worse than investing ten years into something unhealthy or unproductive is investing ten years and one day.

Life isn’t meant to be fair. There isn’t a higher power or any person on Earth who ensures that all humans are dealt a fair or equal hand. Some people have more positive experiences than others. That’s life but it doesn’t mean you’re owed anything if you were dealt a bad hand.