Have you Trusted today?

In The Book of Qualities, J. Ruth Gendler identifies Trust as the daughter of Truth and the mother of Love. 

Let’s think about that for a minute.  Recalling a time when we’ve journey’d into love that was not linked to our Truth.  What did it feel like?  An addiction?  A wayward exploration of our darkness?  A story rooted in insecurity, suspicion, and disharmony?  Playing the victim, making deals with the devil that eventually becomes nothing short of fucking-crazy-making?  And in its way, an important and valuable journey – as the lessons are profound.  Yet it’s of my opinion that in order to grow higher, it’s a path that ought to be trod not much more than once.

Truth we know.  Truth is built into our souls, into our DNA, into the highest part of each of us.  Truth is something that we test, validate, and search for, but it’s finite in its manifestation, and speaks to each of us in a language completely unique and completely universal.  It speaks through our bodies, our guts, our hearts.   

Love (in each of its variations) is what we all in some way instinctively strive for – even if it shows up as active rejection.  Love gives us purpose, the ability to endure struggle and loss, a healthy push to step outside of ourselves and connect to something greater.  Love is how we are able to really see ourselves, grow our hearts, and raise vibrations to make the world better.  Love when connected to Truth is the strongest power of our human capacity.     

And then there’s Trust. Trust is the passageway.  When mapping out Trust to grow my connection to Truth and my ability to Love, I realized that to trust another, I must trust myself.  And to trust myself, I must trust in the greater good of humanity.  And to trust humanity’s goodness, I must be humanity’s goodness. And to be humanity’s goodness, I must trust the universal power (the mystery), and have unyielding faith in the grand-master-plan in which the details - the struggles that gift us growth - can feel nothing short of heart breaking.  I must trust enough to be patient for the moments when purpose is revealed and a glimpse into the Plan is possible. 

And so I ask, what does this Trust stuff look like?  How does it play out in the day-to-day? 

These are my ideas:

To trust is to speak honestly. Every. Single. Time. 

To trust is to choose kindness, to smile by default.

To trust is to listen, to be still, to be open.

To trust is to be awake, to be aware, to be present.

To trust is to be curious, to inquire, to seek.

To trust is to embrace change, to remain flexible, to go with the flow.

To trust is to understand your gifts and your limitations, and to get to know them both intimately. 

To trust is to try new things, to support challenge, to be okay with lookin’ like a fool. 

To trust is to actively forgive others, and especially yourself.

To trust is to live with out excuses.

To trust is to express gratitude. 

To trust is to breathe through the pain.    

What follows is J. Ruth Gendler’s personification of Trust:

Trust is the daughter of truth. She has an objective memory neither embellishing nor denying the past.  She is an ideal confidante, gracious, candid and discreet.  Trust talks to people who need to hear her.  She listens to those who need to be heard.  She sits quietly with those who are skeptical of words.  Her presence is subtle, simple, and undeniable.  Trust rarely buys round trip tickets because she is never sure of how long she will be gone and when she will return.  Trust is at home in the desert and in the city, with dolphins and tigers, with outlaws, lovers and saints.  When trust bought her house, she tore out all of the internal walls, strengthened the foundation and rebuilt the door.  Trust is not fragile, but she has no need to advertise her strength.   She has a gamblers respect for the interplay between luck and skill.  She is the mother of love. 

I invite you to share your interpretations/stories/ideas of Trust.  How does it work? What does it mean? How can we engage with it more deeply? 

And I THANK YOU for reading.