What's the nature of Trust and How to Build it?

I felt to begin this forum thread on the nature of Trust to explore with those interested. Trust so important on the spiritual path of course. So what is the nature of Trust? Trust in what exactly? And how do you build it?

Here are some inquiries then. Do explore and come back to me with whatever questions your might have. I'll happily share a reflection..

  • What are we supposed to be trusting in?
  • How do you learn to trust yourself?
  • Is trust an "all-in" thing, or does it have levels to it?
  • Do we blindly trust people, or is trust rightfully earned?
  • What are we being invited to trust in the Universal Flow?
  • Why is a degree of doubt actually an important thing?
  • How do you find the aligned dynamic between trust and doubt?

These are some of the questions that come immediately to mind. So do ask, do share below. Let's spark a revelatory inquiry.

Open smiley

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Eduardo, your reflections caught my attention. I resonate. You say: "the more I attune to the flow and go with it, the more I trust in it." and then "I AM the flow, and how much I trust in it is a reflection of how much I'm being ME."

And does it also feel to you that the more trust is in the experience of flow, the more trust is in oneself? I have a feeling that this is the case.

que sejamos o fluxo! Indeed, we are flow!

Aspasia

In reply to by Aspasia

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Hello Aspasia,

indeed! I find that in the end there's no difference between the flow and oneself at all. Our goal is to merge with it. So the way one relates to the flow is actually the way one relates to oneself.

By the way, you have a beautiful name smiley When I say it in my mind I get feelings of beauty and strength. I just googled it and found out it means 'welcome, embrace, invite' - amazing! It relates completely with the subject of this thread. Being open to receive naturally gives space for Trust to arise.

So when you feel you've stepped out of the flow, it's just a matter of remembering your name - and surrendering to it!

com amor,
Eduardo

In reply to by Edu

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Thank you for your kind words Eduardo and for the inquiry.

I actually only found out that my name means these a couple of years ago. It is interesting how you see my name as being the gateway to entering the flow. A beautiful association worth exploring.

And I agree with you: "Being open to receive naturally gives space for Trust to arise." At the same time though, I feel that to be open to receive requires a level of Trust in the first place, so its a feedback loop. Awareness and Readiness are key here. Also, an additional key element for me, which I am appreciating more and more is that even when it feels I'm out of the flow, there's a lot to learn here - its a signpost and an invitation to perhaps recognise the value of this experience and aspect of oneself too. From this, Trust seeds.

Gracias,

Enviando amor y luz,

Aspasia

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I felt to come back here and say that the more I attune to the flow and go with it, the more I trust in it.

The last few days made me realize that Trust is in the flow itself - something that naturaly arises when we live in an open and surrended way. Therefore, we step out of the flow when we *try* to trust in it.

I used to think there is the flow and there is me, like a boat that is carried by the wind - but I was wrong. I AM the flow, and how much I trust in it is a reflection of how much I'm being ME. Yeahhhhh!

 

que sejamos o fluxo,
Eduardo

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Wow this is a great exploration folks - it's snowballed, in a good way yes

I'd like to pick up on a few things that jumped out most strongly...

1. Alma you said: "We learn to trust ourselves by living through experiences that truly challenge our fixed and programmed idea(s) of who we are." - I agree entirely. Ultimately it's about learning to trust in the process that leads to the knowing of self, as aligned with the Universe. Also you said "trust has levels to it". Indeed it does! It's an incremental thing, that builds the more we commit to the process of self inquiry.

2. To the question: Is some degree of doubt good? To which Vimal you said... "Somehow i find this question surprising. I thought for a fully realized being there is NO degree of doubt!" It's about allowing a degree of doubt as to where the creative process is heading. Because since the Universe shapes in the moment, you can never be sure - for certain - exactly how the Universe will shape until it lands. So by allowing for a degree of uncertainty, means that you stay open until the moment actually lands in the way it is coming to. Holding this uncertainty, brings you to a surrendered place of flexible responsiveness - a very alert awakeness. I work to know the flow through my life up to around 95% accuracy if I possibly can. I leave the remaining 5% always open for flexible spontaneity.

3. Jen - I find your expression the most fascinating of all, and very right on, in this density especially. Yes, indeed, the lightness of higher knowing often seems to pull against the heaviness and denseness of the emotions. You said... "the lighter and the more dense are in great conflict, yet the lighter is informing and the denser is being invited to let go and come into alignment."  This very much sounds to me like the infusion of higher self helping to break free of the matrix. And also from exploitative entities that can infuse within fixed and limiting lower consciousness relationships with people. When this is achieved, indeed, as you say, the mind and emotions start to fall in line with higher knowing.

What a great inquiry - keep exploring folks!

Open heart

 

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This exploration around trust causes me to reflect on some aspects I am presently experiencing. I recognize that for most of my life I trusted in emotion and sensation to guide direction and way of being. That has been quite misinformed I feel. The direction that lands as knowing flows opposite to where the emotion and sensation are when there is a state of holding. I find that which I can trust in myself is far lighter than the visceral affects of the resistance. So now, it feels as though I can't trust emotion or sensation - which causes a sense of doubt in the body in general - it feels like a great betrayer that I can't count on in times of challenge. It seems like it is just directional confusion...looking to the densest vehicles for a sense of rightness, rather than the deeper sense. What I find now is I am aware of both...the lighter and the more dense and they are in great conflict, yet the lighter is informing and the denser is being invited to let go and come into alignment. Perhaps sometime down the line I can trust in all the various informing aspects...the mind, the emotions, the physical body, but for now they feel to lead me into fixedness - which is imporant to feel through but not to get lost in it. Intersting as well that in those times of clarity, there is no conflict with what I know and the emotions/sensations that come with that. In those moments everything works together as one.  What can I trust in? That I and everyone else will be and respond from however we are configured at the moment and that every situation is showing me something about who I am and how I may be. 

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Open, thanks for the inquiry and of course thanks for fixing the website. yes

What are we supposed to be trusting in ?

I trust that i will have exactly what i need in order to progress along the spiritual path. To take it bit further i trust that all my needs will be taken care of to the extent that i don't have to struggle or intentionally manifest something with my mind. The last bit sounds a little too good to be true. Im currently in a situation where my income is less than the cash outflow. Even though i have developed a fair degree of trust in the matter ,i'm a little too careful where i spend and how i spend. I feel good when i'm rightfully spending even and sometimes especially when i'm giving away to others and feel bad when spending recklessly. I don't want to be in a position where i'm depended on others and also do something totally meaningless to sustain myself. I doubt if something could really come up in my path since i doubt i lack the necessary skills. Im looking for some confirmation that its ok to trust ( the blustering water pump got switched off exactly when i wrote this - could i take it as confirmation - i doubt it!) 

Am i trusting the intrinsic working of the universe or the benevolence . Does it matter? 

I also find it hard to trust people. Its like when you are on the drivers seat speeding along the road its fine but when some ones else does it ,you start to panic .I'm actually more afraid of people than places and situations i find myself. 

Is some degree of doubt good?

Somehow i find this question surprising. I thought for a fully realized being there is NO degree of doubt! When i'm travelling i find it hard leave my stuff for the fear of it getting stolen. Its actually very limiting. Im slowly putting this to test and finding positive results. This happened while travelling last time. I was feeling quite high and expansive beneath a waterfall with crystal clear water. At some point i couldn't hold myself back and i jumped into water. But things didn't turn out as i planned - i couldn't hold on to anywhere and there was no one else around. I panicked so much that i thought i was gonna die. It was a stupid decision ,luckily i came back in one piece. Sometimes i can't discern between Risk and Recklessness.  I also have doubt that i'm blindly believing trust to take no initiative 

Still i have a fair degree of trust that i can't go 'wrong' in the spiritual path. It's just a matter of time before i reach on to the other side. 

Vimal

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ad 1: We´re supposed to trust in ourselves.

ad 2: We learn to trust ourselves by living through experiences that truly challenge our fixed and programmed idea(s) of who we are.

ad 3: Trust has levels to it. But in order to see these levels we often have to go all in. This approach is natural and will teach us the lessons we need to learn.

ad 4: Trust is rightfully earned. But I personally trust certain people instinctively. It is very intuitive.

ad 5: The Very Flow Itself. And the individual strength that flows from it.

ad 6: It actually is, because otherwise we would be blinded. Doubt is necessary in order to advance along a mature path.

ad 7: Balance is necessary between trust and doubt. Our intuition leads the way. "I trust that I doubt" and "I doubt that I trust" are two equally important sentences springing directly from our intuition. If we are fooled, we are not ever fooled by our intuition but by our judgement of her.

alma

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Hello Open,

Wow, those are the exact questions i ve been asking.  Especially since yesterday when i had an experience that really raised the above questions.

So yesterday i went hiking. It was kind of a hiking workshop. Nature was really beatiful and i felt so much joy.  I felt like a child.  I noticed that it was maybe the first time that i wasnt looking for an efficient way to do something.  i would take whichever way i felt to and have fun walking on the rocks through the river (there was no water)  even if it was not the most efficient route to take.  i was just jumbing around and it was not dangerous anw.  

so at some point there was a water pool and the trainer who had done the route a few days before told me that we would climb the rock and pass near and  above the water. at some point though we would have to put one feet on the water.  from one point on i couldnt see what was next so i trusted in her words that there was a place to put my feet on and climb. (i didnt trust her completly in general, i had some doubts about her skills, but the route was not dangerous so i went for it.)
so she goes first and i am to follow.  at some point (the point i couldnt see before) i realize that because she climbed first and her feet were now wet no one could climb after her because there were only two places to put my feet on and the grass on the rocks was now wet.  i went for it and sure enough i fell in the water :p  i fell a couple of times while she kept telling me i could do it until i found another way to climb up.  i got really angry and dissapointed after that.  Not because i fell, it was actually fun not dangerous and i liked the challenge but because i would expect her to notice the difference in our shoes.  the sole of my shoes was much more thick and because of that impossible to put my foot on that tiny spot and because it was logical that once the grass was yet it would be much harder. we also had the option to take another, longer route and had she noticed my shoes we wouldnt try to pass from there.   After that incident i lost complete trust in her skills and almost stopped listening to her and i was questioning every detail she was saying.  i got angry and i no longer felt that childish fun.  i noticed that i stopped looking around and enjoying the view.  

i was thinking all the time that thats exacly how i felt when on an early age i was so dissapointed by my parents because they couldnt protect me and guide me.  no parenting skills whatsoever and i decided at an early age i had to do it myself.  i also felt stupid for believing in her words that there was a way to climb that spot.  to my surprise i also felt anger towards nature and that it was not very friendly there.  

so as we kept going i was thinking about how i lost trust in people and the universe.  My general misstrust and that i was so let down in childhood that i never felt that childish fun again. That was until i realised that the beauty of nature was still there and the synchronicities and guidance were still really strong even though i felt crappy.  i was just so dissapointed to enjoy it now that i didnt consider it as support.  i just felt that bad things will happen if i trust and i didnt previously make the distincion between trusting peope and in guidance and my own intuition.  so i was having these questions.  Maybe trust in the universe is that guidance will always be there but it just doesnt mean bad things wont happen or you wont be guided towards 'bad' situations.  Maybe they are supposed to happen and universe will guide you through it and this is what trust is?  and maybe i took it so personally as a child that i felt the universe didnt have my best interest?  

what about trust in other people?  as an adult i knew there was a degree of risk at some point where we did one or two other activities. I nevertheless went for it.  Although  i no longer trusted her, i trusted in my gut that i should do it.  so maybe we trust in our intuition that we should begin to connect with some people and then let the experience and them prove to us that they are worthy of our trust?  

My biggest question is that i realise i lost that part of me that felt that childish joy and carelessness and wasnt questioning (in a bad way) all the time. So how can i feel like that but at the same time be careful and trusting and be ok that bad things may happen?  

Thank you very much :)

Vaso