Random blessing: connecting with old friends and new people that turned into Kindred Spirits this year is so refreshing! It makes life so much more fun!

"In _________ we Trust...." (repost)

"If truth be told- say it loud, say it bold, make sure your words hold their weight like Gold...." -LNN (me)

One topic that my S.O. (significant other) and I talked about for years was about Trust- deeper than your typical "cheaters vs loyalty" relationship trust, or general "Honest Abe vs The Liar" trust.

so let's talk about Trust, shall we?

When we speak of trust most of us only look at this basic angle of how well or often we give the truth in words and actions . The tricky thing is that someone will give you the truth based on the depth of your questions, and may not assess it any further than that. The term "the proof is in the pudding" makes sense now when you literally apply it this way:

1. Your expectations from the "advertisement" of the product (i.e., a box of banana pudding looking delicious in a festive bowl)
2. The ingredients (content/what it's made of)
3. The results (could be the best or the worst dang banana pudding ever!)

Now, try applying this logic to people... Based on what you see and what they "advertise", getting to know them to see the "content", then really seeing what type of person you get- the results could turn out really good or extremely bad!! This may show how far you can trust this person to be what and who they really are at their core, their experience/actions (past or present), and how they display themselves to others. Some "lie" intentionally to hide from or hurt others, overreach to be more than what they are, or "honestly" just aren't aware enough of themselves to know who they are at that moment. Whichever the case, we have to be aware of how our "truths" and "lies" can affect others and the energy this can bring- good and bad.

Example: If someone you just met asked you "Can you cook?", you may naturally answer "yes!" because you may remember cooking with family growing up before you left for college. Then you may be asked follow up questions like "ok, can you cook _______?" and based on your memory of past holidays and dinners you may say Yes to many of these questions. Now, based on your actual experience you may be telling the truth...However, for those who didn't take a fair assessment of themselves before answering these questions may not have thought about the fact that it had been about 5 years since you cooked for ANYONE or yourself as you were in college most of the time and came home during the holidays to help cook but never cooked those things by yourself. Thus, your skills and habits will be put to the test to reveal IF you're a master chef, a student who's open to learn, or better off taking orders... then the results will show if you can be "trusted" to cook a decent meal that others can eat without being poisoned.This doesn't mean that you're a horrible liar, you just didn't take the time to assess what your skills were against the question that was posed to you.

I remember a phone conversation that I overheard while waiting on the Red Line train, where a woman was breaking up with someone. The phrase that stuck out in my mind was "I trusted you based on what you told me, and I made my decisions and changed my life around that..." WOW- it really helped those past discussions with my S.O. to sink in deeper about how being truthful in who you are with actions to match can affect others... and how my "truths" or "miscalculations" of myself may have affected him and others in my own life.

Do you trust yourself? Can others trust who you are and see that your actions match? Do you hide who you are from others to save face, or are you comfortable with yourself enough to admit your weaknesses (and find a way to fix them)? Are you able to look at the person across from you and say that you know who they are? I dare you to look past the surface and reassess everything you know, put it in perspective, and see where this takes you. Good luck on your journey of enlightenment, i'm still on mine :)