A naive person is someone who doesn't have much understanding of life, very much like a child. Naive people are often gullible, believing things that other people tell them. It is one who shows a lack of experience, judgment or knowledge. Naive people are simple in nature, not sophisticated, innocent and unassuming.

Being naive is a little different than being stupid. The word 'stupid' has a more general meaning which includes not knowing things, not being able to think quickly or learn new things easily. The word 'stupid' also has a more negative image than 'naive'.

However, stupid doesn’t mean ignorant as stupid can be someone who thinks they already know it all and won’t learn anything new. Stupid are those who spend too much time saying, thinking and blaming their screwed up past for stopping them from moving forward.

Both types of people need help but one is a delight to help while the other will cause you to cough out blood.

I’m still naive in many areas of my life. I like to believe that the world is full of wonderful people and a handful of bad ones. I like to think that good things will always come to good people. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt, so I have at times been fooled. I have gone through some stages where my decisions in my past have caught up with me. That is the price I am willing to pay to be able to trust. I give my trust less freely now than in the past, but I still err to the side of giving too much as opposed to too little. It’s the way I have chosen to live my life. Though my intuition is very good, I can still be wrong at times.

My dilemma then was how to feel after learning of the betrayal. Do I get even? Do I stop trusting? Do I remain bitter? Or do I simply move forward and learn from it?

My misplaced trust was a mistake. Looking back, I am sure that if I had it to do over I would probably trust the person again. They were very good at their deceit. But in the end, the decision to no longer trust anyone was too high a price to pay because there are still so many who deserve my trust. Maybe I’m naive, even stupid but I believe trusting my intuition and others is a better way to live.

Of course, there are naive people who get hurt over and over again simply because they never learn. To me, such naive people are being stupid. It’s naive to believe the sweet nothings that he promises you but it’s stupid to believe that he hits you because he loves you.

While naivety can be cured by providing information, stupidity can only be remedied by the person realising that they have been stupid.

Life is too short to know it all so it’s normal for us to be naive in some areas or at some points of our lives. In fact, being naive has its advantages, one of them being that you can always be blissfully ignorant about nasty things in life and there are people who find those who are naive to be attractive. Nevertheless, we should never let our naivety be taken advantage of and be manipulated into doing stupid things.

Be naive, not stupid.