Top 99 Quotes & Sayings by Amy Morin

Although most of us don't spend time thinking about our thoughts, increasing your awareness of your thinking habits proves useful in building resilience.

People with a mental illness aren't mentally weak. In fact, many of them are incredibly strong. And just like everyone else, they possess the ability to create positive change in their lives.

Mental health is a continuum, and people may fall anywhere on the spectrum.

Being stuck in a rut can kill your creativity, stress you out, and zap your productivity. Doing the same thing over and over again causes your days to blend together.

Time and energy are finite. You only have so many hours in a day and so many days of your life. The solution to using your time wisely isn't about exerting more energy - eventually you'll run out of steam. The key to reaching your greatest potential is about working smarter, not harder.

Everyone has the ability to increase resilience to stress. It requires hard work and dedication, but over time, you can equip yourself to handle whatever life throws your way without adverse effects to your health. Training your brain to manage stress won't just affect the quality of your life, but perhaps even the length of it.

Wasting brain power ruminating about things you can't control drains mental energy quickly. The more you think about problems you can't solve, the less energy you'll have leftover for more productive endeavors.

Mentally strong people overcome setbacks with confidence because adversity only makes them better.

Establishing healthy habits - like eating a healthy diet, getting plenty of sleep, and participating in regular exercise - can also go a long way to improving how you feel. Similarly, getting rid of destructive mental habits, like engaging in self-pity or ruminating on the past, can also do wonders for your emotional well-being.

A lot of problems stem from a desire to avoid discomfort. For example, people who fear failure often avoid new challenges in an effort to keep anxiety at bay. Avoiding emotional discomfort, however, is usually a short-term solution that leads to long-term problems.

It's difficult to look on the bright side when you're surrounded by negativity.

Positive thinking is a valuable tool that can help you overcome obstacles, deal with pain, and reach new goals.

If you want to become physically stronger, you'll need healthy habits - like going to the gym. You'll also have to give up unhealthy habits - like eating junk food. Building mental strength requires healthy habits - like practicing gratitude - while also giving up unhealthy behavior, like giving up after the first failure.

As a therapist, I've worked with many high-achieving people who don't feel worthy of their success. Whether it was a recent college graduate who had landed a high-paying job or a mature adult who had just received another promotion, all of these people suffer from impostor syndrome.

Trying to change before you're ready isn't likely to be productive. For example, most New Year's resolutions don't last because people spring into action without being prepared for the work it's going to take. Forcing change based on a date on the calendar, rather than a true readiness to transform, can be a setup for failure.

Whether you aim to lose 20 pounds or you want to launch your own business, mental strength is the key to long-term success. After all, you need fierce determination and tenacity to reach your greatest potential.

Mental strength requires a three-pronged approach - managing our thoughts, regulating our emotions, and behaving productively despite our circumstances. While all three areas can be a struggle, it's often our thoughts that make it most difficult to be mentally strong.

Narcissists - people with an inflated self-concept and a strong sense of uniqueness and superiority - seek attention and affirmation on Facebook.

While reflecting on past relationships and learning from them can be helpful, February isn't the best time to try and gain insight.

Just because you're struggling with self-discipline doesn't mean you have to raise the white flag and declare your self-improvement efforts a complete failure. Instead, work to increase the chances that you'll stick to your healthier habits - even when you don't feel like it.

Mentally strong people don't shy away from change - nor do they expect immediate results.

Sleep deprivation impairs everything from your motor skills to your reaction time.

Striving for success is healthy - but believing you need to succeed the first time around may backfire. Mentally strong people believe failure is part of the process toward a long journey to success. By viewing failure as a temporary setback, they're able to bounce back and move forward with ease.

Acknowledging the unproductive thoughts and ineffective behavior that you've tried to ignore can be uncomfortable. But, stepping out of your comfort zone and choosing to proactively address bad habits will skyrocket your ability to create long-lasting change.

Being a top performer - whether it's in business or on the athletic field - requires grit and tenacity, as well as the continuous desire to become better.

Spending time with negative people can be the fastest way to ruin a good mood. Their pessimistic outlooks and gloomy attitude can decrease our motivation and change the way we feel. But allowing a negative person to dictate your emotions gives them too much power in your life. Make a conscious effort to choose your attitude.

Impulse decisions can often be our downfall when it comes to sticking to good habits. Do something to buy yourself some time when you're experiencing those 'moments' of weakness, and often, the urge will pass. If you keep the cookies in a box in the basement, you might find it's not worth the effort to go get them.

Sticking to good habits can be hard work, and mistakes are part of the process. Don't declare failure simply because you messed up or because you're having trouble reaching your goals. Instead, use your mistakes as opportunities to grow stronger and become better.

Since self-control is vital to reaching long-term goals, befriending people with willpower could be the secret to success. Whether you're tempted to skip that workout at the gym, or you're considering blowing this month's budget, spending time with a disciplined friend could boost your motivation to maintain healthy habits.

The quantity and quality of your sleep plays a major role in your ability to learn new information.

We all have vulnerabilities that can sidetrack us from reaching our goals. Recognize the times when you're most likely to give into temptation, and make it harder for a single moment of weakness to sabotage your best efforts.

When self-doubt creeps in, don't ignore it - address it. Respond to harsh self-criticism with something more compassionate. Talk to yourself like a trusted friend and refuse to believe your unrealistic, negative inner monologue.

Choosing to avoid uncomfortable feelings offers immediate short-term relief, but avoidance can lead to long-term consequences.

After a hard day, choosing to do something to help you feel better - as opposed to staying in a bad mood - is a healthy skill.

Feeling sad or lonely isn't a bad thing. But those emotions increase the risk that you'll cross the line into self-pity.

Thinking things like, 'I will never get hired for this job,' or 'Nobody ever listens to me,' can alter your behavior in a way that makes those predictions come true.

Just like it's not healthy to think overly negative thoughts, exaggeratedly positive thoughts can be equally detrimental. If you overestimate how much of a positive impact a particular change will have on your life, you may end up feeling disappointed when reality doesn't live up to your fantasy.

Idealizing the reality of past romances won't do you any favors as you face Valentine's Day alone.

Resilient people aren't afraid to admit they have weaknesses. Whether an effective leader acknowledges problems within an organization, or an individual recognizes areas in need of personal growth, resilient people use failure as an opportunity to spot their weaknesses.

Mental strength is not the same as mental health. Just like someone with diabetes could still be physically strong, someone with depression can still be mentally strong. Many people with mental health issues are incredibly mentally strong. Anyone can make choices to build mental strength, regardless of whether they have a mental health issue.

If you've ever felt like you aren't good enough, you're not alone. However, if you're not careful, those feelings can keep you from reaching your greatest potential.

Lack of sleep greatly impairs your ability to make good decisions.

Reminding yourself of your strengths can help chip away at your core belief that you aren't good enough to be successful.

Quitting because you don't want to be uncomfortable will prevent you from growing.

Although circumstances may change in the blink of an eye, people change at a slower pace. Even motivated people who welcome change often encounter stumbling blocks that make transformation more complicated than they'd originally anticipated.

The more you practice tolerating discomfort, the more confidence you'll gain in your ability to accept new challenges.

The greatest things in life tend to happen outside our comfort zones, and doubting your ability to step outside of your comfort zone will keep you stuck.

Proactively working to develop mental strength increases your resilience to stress and reduces the toll it takes on you both physically and mentally.

Most of us are never educated about feelings. Instead, we're expected to learn socially acceptable ways to deal with feelings by watching the people around us. But the truth is, many people don't role model healthy ways to deal with feelings.

Your thoughts greatly influence how you feel and behave. In fact, your inner monologue has a tendency to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It can be easy to get swept up into catastrophizing the situation once your thoughts become negative. When you begin predicting doom and gloom, remind yourself that there are many other potential outcomes.

Most people fill their schedules with work, and leisure only happens when there's time left over. But it's impossible to live a rich and full life without doing things that give you joy. Forget about productivity once in a while and give yourself permission to goof off.

Stress impacts the way we think, feel, and behave. It often leads to a negative, self-perpetuating cycle that is hard to escape.

One of the major dangers of being alone in February is the tendency to dwell on past relationships. Whether you're daydreaming about that 'one that got away,' or you're recalling the fairy tale date you went on last Valentine's Day, romanticizing the past isn't helpful - nor accurate.

The busyness of life can keep you running from one activity to the next. If you never step back to consider whether all those activities are really how you want to spend your time, you could miss out on building the kind of life you want. Devote at least 10 minutes each day to examining the bigger picture in your life.

There will always be obstacles and challenges that stand in your way. Building mental strength will help you develop resilience to those potential hazards so you can continue on your journey to success.

While ignoring your bad habits may help you feel good initially, that avoidance will eventually catch up to you. When you don't address the unproductive and unhealthy things you're doing alongside your good habits, you'll stagnate.

Building mental strength is about regulating your emotions, managing your thoughts, and behaving in a positive manner, despite your circumstances.

If you quit every time you face a new challenge, giving up can change how you view yourself. You may begin to think you're weak or that you're a failure because you can't seem to stick with things long enough to see positive results.

Resilient people recognize that no matter how bad the circumstances are, their situation could always be worse. They don't allow themselves to exaggerate how terrible their problems are, and they don't run around predicting how much worse things are going to get. Instead, they view failure with an accurate perspective.