What Does Trust Mean to You?
A segment of the weekly newsletter is a weekly theme. The theme is an invitation and encouragement meant to help the reader better connect to themselves. Going forward, I’ll be sharing more about the theme in a blog post. Please note that the selected themes can be reflected upon at any time and are not limited to the week the themes are shared and published.
Theme: Trust.
I’m building upon last week’s theme of Versions of Self because Trust is an important part of growth and change.
What does “trust” mean though? Trust, as a noun, means “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something” (Merriam-Webster). This week’s theme, however, is all about trust as a verb, which means: (1) “to rely on the truthfulness or accuracy of; ” (2) “to place confidence in: rely on;” or (3) “to hope or expect confidently” (Merriam-Webster).
To trust in one’s growth and in the evolution of one’s self is (1) to live truthfully in the moment, (2) step forward into the unknown confidently, and (3) hope that what lies on other side of the unknown is a reflection of your best self and/or what best serves you.
Practices for Reflection
As I said in the first of these Weekly Theme blog posts, reflection always begins with a question: What does “trust” mean to you? Then, the invitation is there to go deeper in reflection on one or all of the following questions:
What does it mean to trust yourself?
Do you trust the ways in which you are growing?
Do you trust in who you are becoming?
Do you trust yourself to make that decision? Leave? Let go? (The list goes on, so fill in the blank.)
Do you trust in the timing of things?
Personal Reflection
After reflecting on the different versions of myself and the ways in which I extend love for and acceptance of this current version of myself, this question came up for me: Do I trust myself to grow in the ways I am growing? I soon realized that it’s not just how I am growing, but the timeline in which that growth is happening. Do I trust in the passage of time to reveal the ways in which I am growing? As someone who likes to be in control and likes to know what’s going to happen, trust can be hard because surrender is a big part of trust. Can I let go of the need to control and trust in the way things will work out? Can I let go of the need to know and trust that I will change in the ways needed to be my best self? The answer to both of those questions is a YES, even though I know it won’t be easy because there is comfort in the knowing and controlling. But, the desire to control and know keeps me boxed in and closed off from the wonder of being alive right now. I don’t want that; I want to have the space - mentally, energetically, and emotionally - to be curious and follow that curiosity to places of joy, fun, and new experiences. If I don’t trust, I will continue to live out the same story and will always be left wondering “What if?” If I can accept change as a constant life companion, then I can learn to love the process of trusting in the mystery and gift of life’s unraveling.
