»life is better when you're smiling {pvt}

I think that it's important to remember that intelligence and confidence are two of the most beautiful attributes a person can have. But its very important to also remember that compassion, generosity, and humility are their counterparts, and without them intelligence and confidence simply become arrogance.

Be confident. Confidence isn't something to be afraid of, it's something you need to embrace. You need to learn to love yourself and be confident in who you are before you can love others completely and before others can love you completely.

This is something that I've struggled with my whole life and especially now struggle with daily and it's gotten to a point where being self-conscious and so hard on myself all the time emanates from me and I come across as upset or serious or sad or rude or arrogant when honestly none of the above are remotely close to who I really am. I've recently taken a serious interest in reinventing and rediscovering myself and loving myself for who I am. Changing the negative things that I'm able to change and learning to accept and love the flaws that I can't.

Be compassionate. Look at things from other people's perspectives, situations, cultures. This world is so vast and everyone is so different. What you many know, another person may not. What you have never experienced (self-harm, self-loathing, family issues) they may suffer from that very thing everyday. Remember that you never truly know a person until you've had many full and deep conversations with them, don't judge so quickly and leave room for love with each person you meet.

Be intelligent. Being intelligent and opening your mind and accepting others for who they are and what they believe and allowing yourself to grow from that is something that is so incredibly important and beautiful. I think people mistake intelligence for always being right (as I do myself sometimes) but its so much more than that. One of my favorite things to do is pick up a book and read about something that I have no knowledge of. To take that knowledge and apply it to everything I do. It's so important for you to want to learn and want to grow and want to open your mind and see the world from other people's eyes, not just your own. It's also good to have opinions and be strong about them because as cliche as the saying is, it's 100% true.
"If you stand for nothing you fall for anything."

Be humble. Being humble and recognizing the fact that you are human, that you're opinion isn't always going to be correct and admitting that you're wrong, embracing your imperfection and allowing that to show is such a beautiful and admirable thing. Be smart and confident, but never let that become arrogance.

And last but certainly not least:

Be generous. Giving. Realizing that you're not the only thing in this world and that you are so fortunate. Giving to those in need in any way you can, whether it be a smile, or a dollar, or a meal, or sacrificing your time to help out a friend or your weekend to feed the homeless or whatever your heart tells you to do. And doing it not for the glory of other people knowing you did a good thing, but for the satisfaction of knowing that you helped make a difference in someone's day or life, no matter how insignificant it may seem. No act is small. No act of generosity goes unnoticed.

Be confident. Be compassionate. Be intelligent. Be humble. Be generous. The universe returns to you what you put out.

I'm learning this all myself right now and I feel like I'm not the only one in the world that struggles with everything I just mentioned. I used to use tumblr as my diary so today I wanna share with my future self and with you all my current inner thoughts and rules that I'm trying to live by. And I say trying because I'm not perfect, I'm human and I make mistakes and I have moments where all of what I just mentioned seems irrelevant and all I wanna do is feel sorry for myself but I've recently made the decision to try harder. Because inner happiness is worth it. Being a positive influence and person is worth it. And it's about time for a change.

I hope this helps you if you needed to hear something like this. Because God knows that I would've loved to have come across something like it a few years ago.

I love you.