The single greatest cause of happiness is gratitude.

Seeking external validation brings disappointment. Validate yourself from within to find true happiness.

There is darkness inside all of us, though mine is more dangerous than most. Still, we all have it—that part of our soul that is irreparably damaged by the very trials and tribulations of life. We are what we are because of it, or perhaps in spite of it. Some useit as a shield to hide behind, others as an excuse to do unconscionable things. But, truly, the darkness is simply a piece of the whole, neither good nor evil unless you make it so. Ittook a witch, a war, and a voodoo queen to teach me that.

My job, my only job here in this moment, is to love myself and, by extension, to love others. My job is just to live and to realize that to live is to love.

We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.

I’m nothing great. But I’m a rose… I’m a rose whether I’m admired or not, I’m a rose whether anyone’s crazy about me or not… Like I said, nothing great. Just a rose… But, do you know what it means to be a rose, my friend? Being a rose means ‘freedom.’ It means not existing by the praises of Others or not ceasing to exist by their disapproval.

It was hard to remember what I'd been so scared of. Being treated differently? Lack of acceptance? I was the one who hadn't accepted myself for who I was. I was the one who needed to be comfortable in my own skin. I hoped I could do that moving forward.

If our focus is on how we are supposed to feel then we deny ourselves the joy of freedom in how we truly feel.

Sometimes in life there's no problem and sometimes there solution. Within this space - between these apparent poles - life flows.

To be alive simply means to have faith, one has faith that the air one breathes will sustain one, hence being alive without the other kind of faith will be counterproductive to the reason one is alive.