1. They practice gratitude.
Counting their blessings instead of their burdens helps mentally strong people keep life in perspective. Their choice to be grateful shines through in their mood and behavior.

2. They retain their personal power.
Mentally strong people don't give negative people power over them. They refuse to blame anyone for holding them back or dragging them down.

3. They accept challenges.
Mentally strong people view adversity as an opportunity to grow stronger. With each obstacle they overcome, they gain confidence in their ability to become better.

4. They focus on the things they can control.
Mentally strong people stay productive and effective by focusing on the things they can control. Rather than waste their energy worrying about whether a storm will come, they invest their efforts into preparing for it the best they can.

5. They set healthy boundaries.
Creating healthy emotional and physical boundaries gives mentally strong people the room they need to grow. They're willing to say no, even if it means disappointing others.

6. They take calculated risks.
Mentally strong people balance their emotions with logic to calculate the risks they face. They're willing to step outside their comfort zone and seek opportunities that will help them reach their
goals.

7. They make peace with the past.
Mentally strong people reflect on the past so that they can learn from it, but they don't dwell on it. They refuse to live a life of regret, and they are able to let go of grudges.

8. They learn from their mistakes.
Mentally strong people focus on learning from their mistakes. They accept full responsibility for their behavior and choose to move forward in a productive manner.

9. They create their own definition of success.
Rather than resent other people's good fortune, mentally strong people feel free to share in their joy. They recognize that other's achievements don't diminish their own.

10. They view failure as an opportunity for growth.
Failure is part of any long journey toward success. Mentally strong people accept this and choose to use each failure as an opportunity to grow wiser.

11. They set aside time to be alone.
Mentally strong people take time to be alone with their thoughts. Whether they write in a journal, practice meditation, or sit silently and reflect, they know a little solitude is essential to their well-being.

12. They accept full responsibility for their lives.
Mentally strong people create opportunities for themselves. They don't waste time waiting for the world to give them what they think they're owed.

13. They practice perseverance.
Mentally strong people know that the best things in life are worth waiting for. They exercise patience and persistence as they strive for their goals.

14. They modify their unhealthy beliefs.
Mentally strong people refuse to allow self-limiting beliefs to restrict their potential. They understand their minds can be their best asset or their worst enemy.

15. They expend their mental energy wisely.
Instead of complaining about things they can't change or rehashing events that already happened, mentally strong people devote their energy to productive tasks. They don't waste limited resources like time and energy on things that aren't helpful.

16. They practice realistic optimism.
Mentally strong people talk to themselves like a trusted coach. They refuse to believe pessimistic predictions and don't allow themselves to become overconfident.

17. They tolerate discomfort.
Mentally strong people aren't afraid to endure a little pain. Whether they keep running when their legs are tired or they resist instant gratification, these people practice self-discipline even when it's uncomfortable.

18. They stay true to their values.
Mentally strong people keep their priorities in line with their beliefs. They're courageous enough to live according to their values, even when it's not the popular choice.

© PSYCHOLOGYTODAY.COM

Nice..

....and the list is endless...#Greatminds#

Maslow studies individuals that he believed to be self-actualized, inclusive of Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein, to derive the common traits of the self-actualized person. Here are the most important characteristics, from his book ‘Motivation and Personality’:

1. Self-actualized persons embrace the unknown and the ambiguous.

They aren’t threatened or afraid of it. They, instead, accept it, are comfortable with it, and often attracted to it. "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious," - Einstein.

2. They accept themselves, together with their flaws.

They perceive themselves as they are. With a high level of self-acceptance, they lack defensiveness or artificiality. Eventually, shortcomings aren’t seen as shortcomings at all, but simply as neutral personal traits.

3. They prioritize and enjoy the journey, not just the destination.

They can often enjoy the getting to some place as well as the arriving. It is, from time to time, possible for them to make out of most trivial and routine activity an intrinsically engaging game, dance or play.

4. Whilst they are inherently unconventional, they don’t seek to shock or disturb.

"... the world of people in which he lives could not understand or accept [his unconventionality], and since he has no wish to hurt them or to fight with them over every triviality, he will go through the ceremonies and rituals of convention with a good-humored shrug and with the best possible grace [... Self-actualized persons would] usually behave in a conventional fashion simply because no great issues are involved or because they know people will be hurt or embarrassed by any other kind of behavior."

5. They are motivated by growth, instead of the satisfaction of needs.

"Our subjects no longer strive in the ordinary sense, but rather develop. They attempt to grow to perfection and to develop more and more fully in their own style. The motivation of ordinary men is a striving for the basic need gratifications that they lack."

6. They have purpose

"[They have] some mission in life, some task to fulfill, some problem outside themselves which enlists much of their energies. [...] This is not necessarily a task that they would prefer or choose for themselves; it may be a task that they feel is their responsibility, duty, or obligation.”

7. They are not troubled by small things.

Instead, they focus on the bigger picture. "They seem never to get so close to the trees that they fail to see the forest. They work within a framework of values that are broad and not petty, universal and not local, and in terms of a century rather than the moment.”

8. They are grateful.

"Self-actualizing people have the wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naïvely, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstasy, however stale these experiences may have become to others [...] Thus for such a person, any sunset may be as beautiful as the first one, any flower may be of breath-taking loveliness, even after he has seen a million flowers. [...] For such people, even the casual workaday, moment-to-moment business of living can be thrilling."

9. They share deep relationships with some, but also feel identification and affection toward the entire human race.

"Self-actualizing people have deeper and more profound interpersonal relations than any other adults [...] They are capable of more fusion, greater love, more perfect identification, more obliteration of the ego boundaries than other people would consider possible. [...] These people tend to be kind to almost everyone [...] of suitable character regardless of class, education, political belief, race, or color."

10. They are humble

"They are all quite well aware of how little they know in comparison with what could be known and what is known by others. Because of this it is possible for them without pose to be honestly respectful and even humble before people who can teach them something."

11. They resist enculturation.

They don’t allow themselves to be passively molded by culture. Instead, they make their own decision, choosing what they see as good and rejecting what they see as bad. Still, they don’t accept all like a sheep, or reject all like an average rebel.
As a result of their self-decision, they have codes of ethics that are individualized rather than being dictated by society. "They are the most ethical of people even though their ethics are not necessarily the same as those of the people around them [...as] the ordinary ethical behavior of the average person is largely conventional behavior rather than truly ethical behavior."

12. Despite all this, they are not perfect.

"There are no perfect human beings! Persons can be found who are good, very good indeed, in fact, great. [...] And yet these very same people can at times be boring, irritating, petulant, selfish, angry, or depressed. To avoid disillusionment with human nature, we must first give up our illusions about it."

Do you realize some similarities between mentally strong people and self-actualized people?