Trust

Have you ever come across people who say they have trust issues? I believe we all do to some degree, but when it gets to the point of it affecting or keeping us from developing some valuable relationships, we need to step back and take another look at our trust issues. We cannot afford to spend a good portion of our lives not trusting others or we will be missing out on what could be some great friendships. 

Trust can take much time to build but it can be broken in an instant. No matter how hard we try to live a life of integrity where we deal honestly and truthfully according to our inner convictions, it is likely that there will be times when we do not accomplish this and will slip. While we are building our relationships, we must leave room and allowance for mistakes or we will not give our relationships a chance to become lasting and enduring.  

While great relationships do require a high level of trust in order to be successful, when we make mistakes we really need to evaluate and process through the circumstances that brought about the breech in trust and allow forgiveness to play a vital role in the restoration of the relationship. Denials will only serve to sever the relationship or reduce it to a more superficial one.  

Patience also plays a vital role in restoring trust because you need to give the offended person time to process and heal. If it is a relationship worth having it is one worth saving. If you can successfully heal from a broken trust, you have the potential of having an even greater relationship once the healing is accomplished.  

It would be a perfect world if we would never experience betrayals of trust in our relationships, but we are all human and mistakes will happen. While there are some relationships that are toxic and we may need to sever them, there are some good ones that only need some extra effort. You can probably think about a relationship you still have today that at one time may have been on thin ice, but you worked through it and now you are experiencing the benefits of it. If you had given up on it, you would be missing out today.  

When our trust is betrayed numerous times, we tend to commence new relationships with our guard up. We may even project some of the bad qualities from the previous relationship to the new one. We need to be careful of this and remember that everyone is an individual. Although, new relationships may trigger reminders of bad behaviors from past relationships, we must give new ones an opportunity by entering into them with a clean slate.  

Trust is a great virtue to have and a great one to give to others. If you are an offender of breaching trust, remember how it feels when you are on the other end of it and consider taking a new approach to relationships. If you are the offended, you should also change your method of managing new relationships by entering them with an open mind. There may be newer worlds awaiting you when you develop new relationships if you remember that trust is an important key to having a great relationship. 

When my husband and I counsel other couples we always tell them that mutual trust in a relationship may take you even further than love. When trust is broken love is hard to repair. This month let us take the time to reevaluate trust in our relationships. It may take them from being mediocre to wonderful!