Three ways to cultivate trust
This week I have been drawing a card everyday to help me set my direction and intention for the day.
This morning I drew the trust card. It’s a beautiful picture but the part that resonated with me was what was written underneath “I choose to trust the process”, in particular the “choose” part stands out.
For trust to exist we have to actively choose it.
It reminded me of a piece of advice someone once gave me, “the quickest way to know if you can trust someone is to trust them”
I believe trust starts with ourselves, lots of us get out of the habit of trusting ourselves because we stop paying attention to our own instincts. We get told how things should be done by our parents, our bosses, our colleagues, even our kids and eventually we choose their way instead of our own.
Here are three ways you can start to cultivate trust in yourself:
Make a point of checking in with yourself every hour by asking “what do I need right now?” it could be a glass of water, some fresh air, a walk around the block, food, an extra layer of clothing, time to think, a moment of silence
Start a mindfulness practice, this will help you identify what you need so that need can then be met. Insight Timer is a free app you can download that has loads of great guided meditations, here’s a couple of great ones
https://insighttimer.com/markwilliams/guided-meditations/mindfulness-of-body-and-breath-
https://insighttimer.com/andrewjohnson/guided-meditations/body-scan-relaxation
Meet your own needs, once you’ve identified what you need, allow yourself to have it without judgment or question. When we meet our own needs we build trust in ourselves and learn to fill our own cups before sharing with others
When we choose to trust ourselves, we reframe what it means to trust others because it’s no longer about them, it’s about you and your needs. So really the only person you ever need to trust is yourself.
