Top 40 Julie Smith Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “Metacognition is the process of stepping back from the thoughts and getting enough distance to allow us to see those thoughts for what they really are.”

— Julie Smith

2. “Teenagers are like cats – they have important business that doesn’t involve mere humans.”

— Julie Smith

3. “The one person you most need the approval of is you.”

— Julie Smith

4. “Thoughts are not facts. They are a mix of opinions, judgements, stories, memories, theories, interpretations, and predictions about the future.”

— Julie Smith

5. “So don’t concentrate on sleep, concentrate on relaxation, rest and calm. Your brain will do the rest.”

— Julie Smith

6. “When you are low on energy, the chance of exercising goes down, along with your mood. Low mood gives you the urge to do the things that make mood worse.”

— Julie Smith

7. “Thoughts are not facts. They are suggestions offered up to us by the brain to help us make sense of the world.”

— Julie Smith

8. “Just as thoughts are not facts, feelings are not facts either. Emotions are information, but when that information is powerful, intense and loud, as emotions can be, then we are more vulnerable to believing in them as a true reflection of what is going on. I feel it therefore it must be a fact. Emotional reasoning is a thought bias that leads us to use what we feel as evidence for something to be true, even when there might be plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise.”

— Julie Smith

9. “Anhedonia is something different. This is when we stop taking pleasure in the things that we used to enjoy. Anhedonia is associated with a number of mental health problems, including depression.”

— Julie Smith

10. “Testosterone is the world’s most dangerous drug. Get one molecule on you and you’re helpless.”

— Julie Smith

11. “New Orleans could wreck your liver and poison your blood. It could destroy you financially. It could shun you or embrace you, teach you tricks of the heart you thought Tennessee Williams was just kidding about. And in August it could break your spirit.”

— Julie Smith

12. “It was funny, Skip thought, how much attention children demanded the first few years of their lives and how hard adults strove ever after to get their attention.”

— Julie Smith

13. “Confident is not the same as comfortable.”

— Julie Smith

14. “Focus on making good decisions, not perfect ones. ‘Good enough’ steers you towards real change. Perfectionism causes decision-making paralysis, whereas improving your mood demands that you make decisions and take action. Keep changes small and sustainable. When someone is down, we show them kindness because we know it is what they need. So, if you are committed to managing your mood and overall mental health, commit to practising self-compassion.”

— Julie Smith

15. “If you had lived with the meaning and purpose that you chose, how would you behave day to day? What would you work hard on? What would you let go? What would you commit to, even if you might not be able to complete it? Exploring death in that way can help us get clear on what matters now.”

— Julie Smith

16. “Physically moving your body can help to shift your mind when it is otherwise very difficult.”

— Julie Smith

17. “Procrastination is something everyone does. It’s when we put something off because the job we need to do triggers a stress reaction, or some other feeling that is aversive.”

— Julie Smith

18. “Getting better at relationships does not mean learning how to get the other person to do or be what you want them to be. In couples therapy, you can work on your relationship together. But you can also work on your relationships by understanding your own individual needs and patterns and the cycles you tend to get stuck in.”

— Julie Smith

19. “If we don’t do the work to develop self-acceptance, we set ourselves up to live a life in which we may need constant reassurance, get trapped in jobs we hate or relationships that cause us harm, or find ourselves living with resentment.”

— Julie Smith

20. “Every time we say no to something because of fear, we reconfirm our belief that it wasn’t safe or that we couldn’t handle it. Every time we cut something out of our lives because of fear, life shrinks a little.”

— Julie Smith

21. “If we associate failure with unworthiness, then starting anything new is going to feel overwhelming and procrastination will be front and centre. We protect ourselves from the psychological threat of shame by sabotaging the process before it gets started.”

— Julie Smith

22. “The thing about the human brain is that, when you believe something, the brain will scan the environment for any signs that the belief is true.”

— Julie Smith

23. “The thoughts we spend time with affect how we feel, but how we feel also has an effect on the thought patterns that come up.”

— Julie Smith

24. “There is a period in which we have to grind, doing things that matter to us, even when we don’t feel like it, in order to re-engage with the pleasure we used to feel.”

— Julie Smith

25. “Dealing with emotion is much the same as standing in the waves. When we try to stop feelings in their tracks, we easily get knocked off our feet and find ourselves in trouble, struggling to catch a breath and work out which way is up. When we allow the emotion to wash over us, it rises, peaks and descends, taking its natural course.”

— Julie Smith

26. “When stress becomes sustained over long periods, our brain tends towards more habitual behaviours that demand less energy. Our ability to control our impulses, remember information and make decisions becomes impaired. Over time, our immune system is affected.”

— Julie Smith

27. “So if you are sleep-deprived, depressed, anxious or not eating well, your heart-rate variability goes down, along with your chances of sticking to your goals.”

— Julie Smith

28. “Therefore, doing anything positive, however small, is a healthy step in the direction you want to go.”

— Julie Smith

29. “Allowing all thoughts to be present, but choosing which ones we give our time and attention to, can have a powerful impact on our emotional experience.”

— Julie Smith

30. “In acceptance, the new reality is still not OK. It is still not as we want it to be. But we begin to take on the new reality, listen to our needs, open up to new experiences and make connections.”

— Julie Smith

31. “You might notice that you feel the need for more reassurance from others when your mood is low. If you don’t get that extra reassurance you might automatically assume that they are thinking negatively about you. But that is a bias, and it is quite possible that you are your worst critic.”

— Julie Smith

32. “Feeling down is more likely to reflect unmet needs than a brain malfunction.”

— Julie Smith

33. “Anything that you link to your self-worth can give rise to shame. In order to build and maintain a sense of self-worth, we need to understand that our worthiness as a human being is not dependent on living mistake-free.”

— Julie Smith

34. “It reminds us that our mood is not fixed and it does not define who we are; it is a sensation we experience.”

— Julie Smith

35. “Burnout happens when that short-term stress response that we have is repeatedly triggered over a prolonged period, without enough chance to rest and restore in between.”

— Julie Smith

36. “But humans are not built to be in a constant happy state. We are built to respond to the challenges of survival.”

— Julie Smith

37. “The things you do most of the time become your comfort zone. So, if you want to feel less anxious about something, do it as often as you can.”

— Julie Smith

38. “Something that I have come to realize over the years of working as a psychologist is how much people struggle with low mood and never tell a soul.”

— Julie Smith

39. “Burnout is a term used to describe the response to excessive and prolonged stress at work, although paid employment is not the only environment in which we can experience burnout. Anyone in a caring role, parenting role or volunteering role may also experience burnout.”

— Julie Smith

40. “Emotions are your brain’s attempt to explain and attach meaning to what is going on in your world and your body.”

— Julie Smith

41. “What would I do if I was at my best?”

— Julie Smith

42. “What are the first signs for you that emotional discomfort is present? Is it a behaviour? Do you recognize your blocking or protective behaviours? Where do you feel the emotion in your body? What thoughts are there? What beliefs are you buying into about this situation? What effect is that having on you?”

— Julie Smith

43. “Describe any significant events that happened. What thoughts did you have at the time? How did that way of thinking impact on how you felt? Describe any emotions you noticed. What triggered those emotions? What urges did you have? How did you respond to the feeling? What were the consequences of your response?”

— Julie Smith

44. “The more work we do on building self-awareness and resilience when all is well, the better able we are to face life’s challenges when they come our way.”

— Julie Smith

45. “When outbreaths are longer and more forceful than inbreaths, this slows the heart rate and calms the body.”

— Julie Smith

46. “Stop!’, quickly followed by physical movement, such as standing up and moving away from the position you are in.”

— Julie Smith

47. “When we feel anxious about something, the most natural human response is to avoid it. We know that if we stay away, we’ll feel safe, for now. But avoidance not only maintains anxiety, it makes it worse over time.”

— Julie Smith

48. “Grief is a normal part of human experience. It is a necessary process to go through when we experience the loss of someone or something that we loved, needed, felt connected to and that held meaning in our life.”

— Julie Smith