Trust is one of the most important elements in any relationship. Without trust in your relationships, failure will follow. Trust gives you a measure of peace and calmness that leads to security, openness and unconditional love.
Regaining broken trust is not easy and takes patience on both sides of the relationship. I’ve been in relationships where I had total trust and those without any trust … and some in between. There is little question which ones we want to commit to. Here’s how I might characterize why I think trust important?
1. Without trust in a friendship/partner, you are not able to have complete confidence to share your feelings, emotions and self with someone else. And, isn’t that the reason we are in intimate close relationships? Trust means that you don’t have any doubt in your mind about the honesty, integrity and credibility of the other person.
2. Trust is so important is that no relationship can survive without it. As soon as the trust breaks, the relationship breaks. I’ve seen and experienced this time and again. Cheating is a break in trust, lying is a break in trust, talking behind someone’s back … any break in trust creates problems and eventual dissolution of the friendship, especially if that trust is not restored (it can be restored but with effort, love and commitment on both sides). Sometimes, people try to stop the offending behavior but still do things that really are not clear cut … causing a situation where the trust is never fully rebuilt. The relationship/friendship will never survive.
3. Let’s be totally clear here: trust is the foundation on which any relationship is built – it’s the cement. If you don’t trust a person, how can you love them … well, I guess in the broad sense you can love them as we love everyone but can you really LOVE them in the intimate/close sense of the word? Not likely. And for me, and I speak only for myself, if I don’t fully trust a friendship or relationship – I just can’t fully give myself.
4. Finally, a relationship will never grow without trust. Trust that the friendship is stable, trust that the person does what he/she says, trust that the person is really there for you no matter what.
I want to be the kind of person my partner, friends and children can trust to be there for them. I want to be the kind of person that will not the break trust in a relationship – regardless of the relationship … even if I don’t think the other person will find out. I want to be the kind of person who has internal trust … trust that I am grounded enough to be honest with myself, so I can be honest with others. In turn, I want to spend my life with those same kinds of people. Don’t you?
Enjoy your Sunday!
theyearof50 