It’s one of the most beautiful and fragile things in the world. Trust bestows grace, freedom and creativity on those who share it.
But these days how do you know who and what to trust? In the age of facebook “friends” and networking, how do you find this sacred state?
photo: wiki images, Durova's photostream
I feel so lucky to have a few people in my life that I trust completely, and try very hard to be worthy of the trust people put in me. ‘Trust’ is a word more powerful than ‘love’ for me, since we readily understand what it means.
Every day, we have dealings with people who haven’t earned our trust. So what can we do to protect ourselves? I had this conversation with a friend recently, and we identified a few things to prevent those painful breaches of trust.
The first thing was to learn to trust ourselves and our instincts. Often when we look back on a situation that involves betrayal, we realize that we ignored some important warning signals. We need to listen to our inner voices. Often when things don’t ring true, it’s for a good reason.
When we have dealings with others that involve money, we can write up a simple contract. A co-worker once told me that in her family they always did this to prevent misunderstandings. They learned their lesson when two of her relatives had become bitter enemies over a money matter. Clarifying a situation beforehand made sense to me as a way of preventing unintentional betrayal.
Doing all we can to be trustworthy, and adopting trustworthiness as a core value, helps us to be discerning about who and what we allow into our lives. When we hear malicious gossip or witness habitual acts of dishonesty in others, we need to take note.
Finding a balance between being too trusting and too suspicious can be tricky, but I think forming a few good habits can help.
I wish everyone the sacred state of trust, from which so much beauty blooms. But it’s fragile, so handle with care.