9 things uncommonly mentally resilient people do that most people do not

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(This knowledge is now more vital than ever)

Years of oscillating between moments of confidence and periods of wondering why everyone was out to get me taught me a lot about resilience.

I learned that it emerges when I understood the nature of thought itself.

Most people exhaust themselves fighting their own minds, unaware that peace is already lurking there.

Here’s what I learned about the most resilient people.

1. They don’t see themselves as ‘broken.’

Resilient people understand that it’s their insecure thoughts that create the illusion of deficiency, not actual deficiency.

There’s no ‘trapped’ trauma. Just the illusion of a wound created by a repeating thought-pattern.

When you stop treating yourself as a project to fix, you access the innate wisdom obscured by the noise of self-pity.

2. They don’t tolerate thoughts that diminish them.

They catch self-diminishing thoughts early and see them for what they are: passing, rather grey, mental weather.

They don’t entertain the idea that they ‘aren’t enough.’

Why? Because thoughts are not facts, and they get this.

Doing this means negative thoughts have very little fuel to stick around and thrive, as they do for most people.

3. They see suffering as optional.

Some pain is inevitable, but suffering is the story we tell about pain.

Resilient people recognise when they’re adding unnecessary layers of meaning to discomfort.

They allow pain to exist without making it mean something about their worth or future (because it does not).

4. They stopped trying to become more mentally resilient.

Many believe that to become mentally tough, you need to continually do hard things.

This is not true.

I do believe that doing what’s uncomfortable teaches us about the world and ourselves, and, as such, is a good thing.

However, I don’t believe hard things are required to callous the mind to become mentally tough. This is a major misconception.

We are already mentally resilient by default, rain or shine, no matter what our external circumstances.

Truly resilient people don’t feel obligated to do anything to become tougher. Why would they?

They are already mentally strong.

It’s those who continually berate themselves and buy into false, frightening thoughts who sabotage their strength.

5. They trust their inner intelligence.

Rather than constantly seeking answers from out there in the big wide world, they cultivate quiet and allow insight to emerge.

They know wisdom comes from a mysterious flow of energy within, and so they maximise their connection to it.

This intelligence guides you when the thinking mind grows still.

6. They embrace impermanence.

Feelings, circumstances, and identities are all temporary.

Fighting change creates rigidity, while accepting it creates fluidity.

When we’re rigid, ironically, we are more mentally vulnerable. Like a stiff bamboo stalk, it is at risk of snapping in the wind.

When one thing appears that isn’t to your liking, you can relax. Because what you dislike will soon be replaced with something you like.

7. They pursue excellence without attachment to outcome.

Resilient people aren’t sitting about all day worrying about who they are and what’s wrong with them.

They are actively out there, pursuing achievements, building things, and creating success.

Not only this, but they act with full commitment while remaining detached from results.

Excellence becomes its own reward, not a means to prove worth.

8. They see thoughts as temporary patterns.

Most people buy into every thought that passes through their minds.

They take every vision and idea so seriously.

Resilient people know they are under absolutely no obligation to entertain any one thought that appears. They know we were gifted with the power of thought to plan, visualise and explore our imaginations.

When you understand that all thoughts are temporary, you only need to wait for ugly thoughts to float away, without your resisting them.

9. They live from the inside out.

They recognise that their experience is created moment by moment by thought, not by circumstances.

Yes, it’s very tempting to believe the opposite. Most of us do.

We believe our stress comes from our jobs, our ex-partners, and being cut off in traffic.

It’s not. It’s coming from inside.

This understanding is liberating: if your experience comes from within, you’re never at the mercy of the external world. Peace isn’t something to achieve.

It’s what remains when you stop disturbing it.

If you enjoyed these points and want to cement this resilient understanding so it’s part of you for good, you’ll enjoy my Untethered Mind course.

I’ve had professional therapists thank me for creating this course.

It’s the best out there on developing elite mental resilience because it doesn’t try to force-feed you tactics. It’s all about developing an updated and far healthier understanding of the nature of thoughts.

Learn more here.

Alex