7.01am
http://www.thepossibleself.com
There she is again painting the bay in golden and orange light. What a STAR! She turns up everyday looking so fantastic. If only we could turn up each day in our lives with such effortless poise and beauty and less of our anxieties and woes – even for half an hour – time to be part of the bigger picture in nature. We trust the sun to be in the sky each day, no matter what weather we are having.
How will you show up in your own life today?
Trust is a wondrous virtue. Few of us practice it with sincerity, selflessness, integrity, kindness, love and dependability. Trust is hard earned and so easily lost.
On our world stage we have seen that wonderful virtue eroded by greed, arrogance and absolute lack of love, wisdom, or care for our fellow humans or the environment. The financial systems are or were near collapse, the shifts and changes in legislation may work and may not, Europe has finally ‘trusted’ Greece to manage their loans to weather their economic storm as a global tsunami still rolls over us. But is it enough? If there is no ‘real’ trust can there be change?
Will we ever trust the financial systems, politicians and church leaders again? It’s a wake-up call for the global population to reassess the systems, our own moral code, behaviors, attitudes, and habits and when or on what conditions will we trust again?
It’s much the same in our personal lives. We grow up in families and trust in the security of their love, kindness, care, interest in us and us in them, their understanding and protection. Sometimes there is no trust at all. We carry the virtue of trust we have learnt in our families with us in our lives with friends, colleagues, and relationships or not.
Are you a trustworthy individual?
Can you trust in yourself to be the person you say you are?
Do you trust yourself to be honorable and trustworthy with your own life? Why not?
What are the parts of yourself you don’t trust? Why?
What part of society do you trust and not trust? Why?
Is trust too hard a virtue to practice?
Does your life get so complicated that you confuse your own mind with stories you tell yourself about your world, the many mind deluding trips you go on that get you in trouble with yourself and others? Do you know you are doing it? Do you realize how it affects you, your loved ones and those around you?
Using the excuse that we are ‘flawed humans’ so that we can continue to be sloppy and insincere in our communications and actions is pitiful.
You see, whether we like it or not trust begins with ourselves. How can we trust in the financial and political systems that are designed and produced by humans, if we can’t know and trust ourselves? All those people who built the financial and societal systems over generations had mothers, fathers, teachers and families like yours and mine. You can’t build a trustworthy system if you yourself are not trustworthy, it shows up in the system in the long run and we are living with the results of a non trusting system right now. Being cynical is not helping. We are all part of the system in some way. Have a look at your own life and the systems you created to live by and live in. How honest are you?
Not easy questions?
Some of us grew up with system of believe to trust in a Supreme Being. Were we taught in religious class to hand over this virtue of trust to a higher power and not learn about it for ourselves? Not learn to be responsible for our words, thoughts and deeds. Not taught to know how to care and share with a consciousness of the consequences of our actions except to burn in hell for our sins in another lifetime. Are we lost humans without this indoctrination on the deserts of our own making? Do we need to be whipped and suffer to be good people? We certainly have not a lot to show for our religious ways in terms of our global humanity towards each other and our natural environment.
If we tell ourselves we are flawed we will be flawed. If we tell ourselves we hand over all that we are to a higher being and expect him or her to safe us from ourselves; we are not taking responsibility for our thoughts words and deeds towards ourselves and our fellow man in this life. Isn’t it time we took responsibility for our own actions, observe how we are being and make an honest effort to regain a sense of trust in ourselves before we involve others in our ‘game’ of life. Trade our cynicism for personal observation and change. Be what you expect in others.
Trust is probably the most difficult virtue to hold on to when it is betrayed or broken, it reaps havoc in our personal lives and in societies across the world. When trust is honored between two people, companies, organizations and nations it is a great feeling of security, love and belonging. Trust is what binds us and divides us. Trust creates the space for vulnerability; a place with people whom we can tell our stories of pain and love, people who won’t judge us but will tell their stories too, because we are all human, with the same fragility and honour. Trust allows us to be vulnerable with each other.
The big question for today is; do you trust yourself to have integrity in all that you do for yourself and those around you today? Can you trust yourself? What does trust mean to you?
How many times have you been found to be non trustworthy?
Do people find you trustworthy in all your dealings with them, privately and publicly?
What stories are you telling yourself about yourself and which one is you?
Difficult Questions!
And by the way no coffee for over 40 days and we are also still supporting our friend abstaining from alcohol. The Possible Self is in action. How are you doing in your resolves?
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/trust/
http://blog.ted.com/2011/11/01/trust-morality-and-oxytocin-paul-zak-on-ted-com/
©Copyright The Possible Self 2012
The Possible Self Blog 