Trust is often thought of as a ‘response’, given where it has been earned. That is an important view of trust, of course, one that concerns the discernment and boundaries that we need to develop as part of wisely using and protecting ourself and our energy. There is another view of trust that I’ve been thoughtful about, more akin to faith in yourself and your own life and path. Trusting yourself can be a challenge when you are meeting the unknown or in the process of becoming aware of patterns that may not serve you. If we are to extend trust to others in relationship and trust the greater order of our own life, though, trusting ourself comes first.
Developing an ever-deepening trust in yourself is great, but how do we do it? Does trust build from just gathering evidence that things work out in spite of our fumbles? That helps, of course, but an intentional choice to deepen trust in ourself and our path gives us the freedom to live from the inside-out instead of careening off the input and stimulus coming from outside-in. Seeking and waiting for validation from outside can be confusing and exhausting at best. Living from the inside-out is a practice, as is self-trust, and starts with becoming more intimate with your felt-sense and inner being.
The practices that help deepen our self-trust tune us into our own body, heart and the felt-sense of our being. If we live in our head and navigate from thinking alone, we are often lead astray. Deep self-trust arises from an integrated sense of knowing that employs not just our mental/thinking function (which often relies on the past and beliefs about the world), but also our feeling and sensing functions of heart and body. All these aspects of our intelligence are designed to work together, keeping us in tune with ourself and our environment, and illuminating our choices.
Trusting yourself to meet life with resilience, creativity and love starts with learning to listen to and receive your own intuitive knowing and acting on it with courage. Trusting life and trusting others, as well as something beyond us working in our favor, begins with trusting your own being and taking responsibility for your experience, working with life as it arises. Deep self-trust is self-love in action, giving you a sense of agency in your own life. In my work, I dive into all the ways you can learn expand your self-trust. The practices that can help balance and integrate our ways of knowing and our intuition are many, like the body/mind modalities of Yoga, and others, as well as meditation. The practice audios available in my e-book Energy Intelligence can also serve your intention to live from the inside-out, staying in tune and present and aligned with your own inner compass.