What It Means to Trust

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It’s funny how we outgrow what we once thought we couldn’t live without, and then we fall in love with what we didn’t even know we wanted. Life keeps leading us on journeys we would never go on if it were up to us. Don’t be afraid. Have faith. Find the lessons. But, most of all, trust the journey. ~ MarcanDangel~

Trust. That five-letter word that people struggle with, sometimes for their entire lives until they can let their guard down. For some, we trust because we love. For me, I love because I trust.

When I trust you, I am connected to you; with my body, mind, and soul. I expose who I am and trust you not to break it, or worse, judge it. When I trust, I feel safe and secure, and when I feel safe, and secure, I will love you with the deepest parts of my heart. When I trust, I believe that you will hear me, not just listen, but really hear what it is that my soul cries out for. And, I trust that when you do, you will honor it. But, with total and complete trust, must come surrender. It is from this place of trust, and total surrender, that beauty emerges. It is here where we also learn that it takes two seconds to destroy the trust we’ve spent years to build. It is also here that we learn it can, once again, in time, be restored, with patience, and faith. If we are broken, it does not mean we can no longer trust. Redeveloping trust is like a beautiful garden when you feed it water, and sunlight, it grows, and so does our trust when it can be nourished with the right ingredients.

Trust is what led me to travel. Trust has brought me every single one of my closest friendships. Trust empowers me to keep on writing every single day. It keeps me living in the truth of my creative endeavors, and to share my emotional confessions for the world to read. Trust is how I got married for a second time.

But, yet, sometimes, trust gets broken, in work, friendships, family, and in love. I like to challenge trust, so I keep on trusting. I don’t want to believe that I am naïve, either. Because I understand that if I trust injustice, fear, pain, and selfishness, that I also have to trust peace, loyalty, fulfillment, love, and joy. There are even times when we need to learn how to trust happiness, rather than worry, “how can things be this good”? We learn to trust contentment and accept that we deserve it. We learn that we can live happily, today, in this very moment of life that we are given.

Trust is not always about the journey we take when we love, it is also about the journey we take within ourselves. It is knowing when to do better, to give more, or give less. It is trusting that we are resilient, even when a dark cloud is above us. It is trusting that G-d has already designed a master plan for our lives, even bigger than we imagined it to be and that when the stars perfectly align, there is no greater force on earth to stop it.

When in doubt, I choose to trust – each, and every single time. Nonetheless, you can too.
I promise it can be done!

“Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart.”

~ Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear ~

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This post is republished on Medium.

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