Exploring Trust

Trust can take time to build and no time at all to destroy. Use this meditation to create a deeper understanding of your relationship to the concept of trust.

Transcript

Hello,

Thanks for taking time for yourself to explore your relationship with trust.

When people are asked about trust,

They often think of someone they trust deeply or maybe even a time in which their trust was betrayed.

Trust takes time to build and almost no time to destroy,

And trust often feels like,

Especially for me,

Something that we're chasing.

I find myself trying to explore every possible outcome of a situation so I can trust that I'm prepared for the road ahead.

I'm sure you understand how silly that is.

This meditation is not necessarily going to leave you with a profound sense of trust in every area of your life.

Rather,

It will hopefully give you the opportunity to witness how you feel about trust.

It's through this work of noticing and observing how trust shows up in your physical and emotional bodies that you will be able to decide if you'd like to reframe or maybe redesign how you trust yourself and the world around you.

We're going to transition from the past to the present and from the present to the future and sort of watch how we relate to trusting the things that have happened in our lives,

The things that are happening right now,

And the things that are yet to come.

Take a nice,

Comfortable seat.

Perhaps allow your back to rest against a wall so that you can feel really supported right now.

You can rest your hands in your lap with your palms facing up or down,

Whichever feels best to you right now.

But I really like taking my left hand and putting it on my belly,

Sort of right over my belly button,

And then my right hand rests face down in my lap.

Before we get in our time machine,

Please become aware of your physical body.

Notice which parts of your body are touching the floor,

The wall.

Maybe you can even sort of sense the feeling of your clothes on your skin or your hair,

If it's tickling your face or the back of your neck.

Using just a little movement,

Sort of move gently to release any tension you have in your feet,

Your legs,

Your belly,

Your chest,

Your back,

Your arms,

Your neck,

Your shoulders,

And your head.

Now turn your attention to your thoughts.

What's happening right now?

What are you thinking about?

What's pulling you from the present moment?

Don't try to change it or decide if it's right or wrong.

Just notice where you're being pulled right now.

We'll keep returning to this practice of noticing as we sprinkle in the notion of trust.

Finally,

How are you feeling right now?

What's your mood?

What emotions are you experiencing?

Are you happy or sad or angry or restless,

Tired?

Are you more than one thing right now,

Which is very possible?

Again,

You're just here to notice just for the sake of it.

Let's get into that time machine.

As we time travel,

As it were,

And explore trust and how it shows up in these different spaces,

I'm going to ask you a few questions.

Your only task is to watch how your body,

Mind,

And emotional states responds to these questions.

So some of this may feel very easeful and grounding,

And other questions might feel unsettling and maybe even frustrating.

But give yourself permission to watch these responses,

These physical ones,

These thought responses or emotional responses,

And don't discount them as invalid or not supposed to happen right now.

Instead,

See them as an indicator of where you're at right now in your journey with trust.

This is all just information.

Ultimately,

You get to decide what you want to do with it.

Maybe you don't want to do anything with it at all.

So let's take a nice deep breath in.

Let it go.

Let's wander into our past.

So I'd like you to think of a time in your past when your trust in something or someone was challenged or maybe even betrayed.

Just choose the first thing that comes to your mind.

We'll just work with whatever that is right now.

Now notice just by thinking about that thing,

If your physical body changed,

Did any new tension sort of arise in your body?

Can you look at that experience and trust that it's contributing to your growth as a human being or has contributed to your growth as a human being,

Even if it's not quite resolved yet?

How does that show up in your body?

Your thoughts,

Your emotions.

Can you trust that the good experiences you had with this person or in this situation are not diminished or have not become invalid because the trust was broken?

What sensations are you experiencing now?

Can you trust that whatever this is,

Is truly in the past,

But that you get to choose how it informs your present and your future?

Sit with me for a moment in silence and just note how these questions have affected you physically,

How they have affected your thoughts and where your thoughts have wandered to,

And then also emotionally,

If there were any emotional shifts.

Before we step into the present,

Please take three deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.

We'll do it together this first time.

Inhale.

Exhale,

Let it go.

Two more in.

Exhale.

One more.

All right.

Let's step into the now.

Often in meditation,

We wonder if we're doing it right or if X,

Y,

Or Z is supposed to happen.

We often think that we don't have time to meditate because there's just so much more we could be doing or accomplishing in this amount of time.

So often we wonder if this is even worth it.

Can you trust though that you're right where you should be simply because you aren't anywhere else right now?

Can you trust the experience you're having is teaching you something and contributing to your growth,

Even if you don't know exactly how that might be just yet?

Can you trust that you're doing it right simply because you're sitting here and applying effort and just listening and watching your thoughts?

How do these questions show up physically for you?

Has the way you're sitting changed?

Has the tension in your body increased or decreased or moved anywhere?

Where are your thoughts right now?

What are you thinking of?

Where are you traveling to?

And emotionally,

Has your mood shifted at all?

Just take a look,

Just a look.

Take a few deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.

You can feel free to sigh.

It can feel really nice.

Just a big deep inhale and let it go.

It's very,

Very good for you to make that sound every now and again.

After a few deep breaths,

Settle back into your seat and let's travel into the future.

I want you to think of something that's coming up in the next few days or week that is challenging your ability to trust.

This might be a work thing,

A conversation with a friend or a relationship issue that you need to face.

Whatever that thing is,

Whatever came up first is correct.

Notice how your body or your emotions and your thoughts have now shifted.

And can you trust that this situation will unfold?

However it will unfold and that no matter how much preparing you do,

The outcome might not fully be up to you.

How does that feel?

Physically,

Mentally,

Emotionally.

Can you trust that worrying about it right now can't help you in the future?

Is there any resistance to that?

Can you trust that you will know what to do in that future situation right in that moment because you will be doing the best you can with the tools you have?

How do you feel now physically,

Mentally,

Emotionally?

Okay.

Let's take a few more deep breaths together in through your nose,

Out through your mouth.

Couple more on your own.

That was a lot.

That was quite the journey to sort of tackle the idea of trust in both the past,

The present and the future is no easy feat.

You're feeling a little overwhelmed or overstimulated.

It's okay.

You're not broken.

Feel free to sit for a bit longer simply listening to your thoughts and observing how you feel.

I highly recommend grabbing a pen and some paper and jotting down how this experience showed up for you.

Maybe you just create a trust journal for yourself in which you come back to this meditation on a regular basis and make notes about how these questions landed for you because the physical,

Mental and emotional responses will shift and change.

And it can be really,

Really interesting to watch and notice.

Again,

Thank you so much for taking the time to notice how you relate to trust.

I trust that with time you will learn more about this relationship and be able to determine what to do with this information because you have a very bright,

Very smart teacher within.

Thank you.

Reviews

A beautiful way to wander and ponder my relationship with trust. I am going to journal what came up for me and I’m sure I will revisit this meditation again and again as I build awareness with how and why I respond and react the way I do, and hopefully continue to make positive changes in my life. Thank you for sharing.

I appreciated this time and the questions you posed. It was a good way to examine trust and what arises in me around it, thank you!

Simply wonderful. Thank you for this short but powerful journey. I will come back again and again to experience this. Thank you 🙏🏻

Amazing! To be taken through these exercises, examining my relationship with trust, was truly helpful. I can certainly see myself coming back to this and using it as an on-going process, in deepening my relationship with trust. Many thanks 🙏🏼

I found this meditation several years ago. It's one of my favs that I return to for insight and reassurance in new situations. So powerful. Namaste.

That was so nice. Thank you I wish I could donate you deserve it.

Thank you very much! Loved your voice and the things you shared. And thank me for finding this in a time of need 🙏✨

Beautiful, impactful, and so very insightful. Thank you, Tatum. 🌱🙏🏻

Very nourishing to view trust from different perspectives , many thanks for letting me experience this 🧡 !

That was quite the experience. I’ve never looked at my feelings s

Very helpful, beautiful voice and beautiful lessons

Really pertinent, kind of headspinning questions (in a good way). Never thought to frame trust in these ways... Thank you for this :)

Boy we need this! I have the word TRUST tattooed on my wrist but do I really do it? Do I trust my own judgement? Am I afraid to trust others? Do I trust god or the universe? Do I trust that life is unfolding exactly the way it should? Sometimes, but maybe not as much as I should for my peace of mind. 🙏🏻

Trust is a process

I needed more trust and be more trustworthy at the same time. Thanks for the insights.

This meditation helped md feeling through and releasing a deep trust issue from the past. Thanks you so much for this talk! It had really helped me.

Wow! That was absolutely amazing. I was able to feel things that I didn’t realize were there just with your guidance. Thank you!!

This is a really great mash up between a talk, a short meditation, and a mindfulness exercise. For me it was a really quick yet profound way to check in with self and adjust a few things I didn’t know were bothering me. Beautiful! Thank you 😊🙏🏽

I found this to be excellent thank you very much for sharing. 🙏John