Who Do We Trust?

  

By Rev. Amari Magdalena

Erik Erikson believed that trust is developed from birth to 18 months. During this stage, the infant either comes to view other people and himself or herself as trustworthy or comes to develop a fundamental distrust of his or her environment. Trust is defined as a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.

As we move through infancy, early, middle, and later childhood into adulthood, trust may become an issue in our interrelationships. If the initial trust was broken in the earliest developmental stage it may take considerable therapy to learn trust.

Early broken trust leads, in shamanic shields terms, to a skewed South Shield.* The untrusting child carries that lack into each relationship in hopes that somehow magically, the other person will help them overcome their trust issues. In essence, they are looking for that compensatory partner. Of course, the rising dissolution of these relationships speaks to this issue.

When you may hear someone saying: “I just don’t trust anyone.” What they are truly saying is they don’t trust themselves sufficiently to even speak to trust of others. It’s a signal to any therapist or spiritual advisor that inner work is needed.

For an aware adult, that lack of trust may signal a need to develop and foster trusting themselves. Inner child work along with redirecting the North Shield and awakening the Nagual shields of West and East, can make a huge difference in healing basis distrust. This inner work was some of the most successful that I experienced with students and myself.

I was left with my grandparents from about 4 to 10 months. That helped me later understand why I was so attached to them. At the same time, the parental absence at such an early juncture, surely had its impact. There was no social media platform in those days to have us see missing persons in our lives. And written communications at such an early development stage didn’t have any meaning. I’m certain trust was broken.

Thus, I recognized my own need to develop adult trust. That can be done, with a lot of work. First one develops self-trust built on evidence that we can become reliable, truthful, and strong. As we assess and build more self-trust, we can then extend it to others.

At the same time, we need to attract trustworthy people and have some device for forgiving small lapses in trust. I’ve often said that compassion without discernment can be dangerous. That suggests that after we deal with the ‘me,’ we learn to deal with the ‘we,’ and then if we are most fortunate, we come to embracing the greater ‘us.’’ In actuality, that is part of our life work.

We may wish to develop markers of trust in new relationships. A European friend of mine observed how Americans almost instantly trust people rather than build trust over time. That instant trust and superficial bonding can lead to disappointments. In the romantic realm I once wrote a piece on 22 guides for Metaphysical Lovers to help people avoid the karmic macarena.

Discernment certainly comes into play if we are going to embrace and recognize another’s worth for inclusion in our emotional world. Our media often exposes us to such unrealistic pictures of romantic love that we may have incorporated delusional expectations about ourselves and other people’s worth.

The bottom line, is start building self-trust. Develop criteria for the types of people you’d value coming into your lives. Become trustworthy. Demand trustworthiness in all of your relationships. When that wounded inner child shows up, take some time to talk with him or her and see what old emotional issues are still unmet. Become the person that meets those needs and perhaps you will stop finding others and entrusting them with your basket of unmet emotional needs to foster.

Trust is elemental. Our world has shown us many, many examples of misplaced trust on all levels. Yet ultimately it is up to us to discern what is and is not working for our emotional stability. Start with you. Become more reliable, trustworthy, and strong. When we have that inherent trust in self, others, and life, our lives become the heaven we seek.

“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” William Shakespeare

“Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” Stephen Covey

“Trust is built with consistency.” Lincoln Chafee

“He who does not trust enough, Will not be trusted.” Lao Tzu







*Awaken Your Inner Shields: Transform Your Life." by Amari Magdalena

We are Guests of Mother Nature

by Rev. Amari Magdalena

Watching the Yellowstone Dome rising and the ancient history of our small planet, I am again struck by just how fragile is our existence. Whether by force of climate, comets aimed for us, or nuclear attacks by agents opposed to our political agenda, we are temporary at best.

These outside venues for destruction play along with our internal body’s slow destruction. However, you measure it, or think about it, this drives home the need to appreciate each and every day we have in our body suits on planet Earth.

Generations of humankind has egotistically believed mankind to be superior to all sentient beings. What folly! Our dams are perhaps more precarious than those the beavers constructed on a much smaller and livable scale.

We cannot ignore Mother Nature’s message of our egregious maltreatment of our little Garden of Eden. Fires, droughts, raging tornadoes and hurricanes, weather disasters, earthquakes, and water in shorter and shorter supply. Some would argue that the planet has had several climates and changing patterns. This may be true yet there is damning evidence that our ignorance and abuse have greatly accelerated the demise.

Our planet’s axis is changing, our compasses evidence this shift. In the greater history of the planet the poles have indeed reversed. We’ve not contained our populations or considered just how many humans can live bountifully and peacefully on the perhaps intended capacity. Our cities are rampant with crime and homelessness. Politically we’ve failed to find common ground. We’ve decimated the planet and have some delusion that we can find another habitable planet to occupy. An awareness sad beyond words.

So many throw up their hands with” what can I do or this is an insurmountable issue.” I’m hearing way too many “can’t do’s” and damned few “can do’s.” I’m sure that the issue seems beyond the grasp of an individual and their efforts. Yet history has suggested that collective efforts with merely 15% of the population can make a difference. Gathering, this is doable.

Innovation, discovery, new energy resources, energy efficient appliances, pressure on elected “in bed” with lobbyists that need not be reelected. Media needs to be held over the coals for perpetrating myths and engendering fear. They need to start covering the doable things and successes. Our 3 branches of government need to be purged of any official who denies what is a real and present danger to our habitats. Education programs need to emphasize energy renewal and energy saving sources of power.

Like the platforms following the Great Depression, we need greater employment in those industries that are actually good for all sentient beings and provide education, new skills, and share the wealth of those companies with the greater public and not selected investors whose purpose is obscene profits.

Other, and an emphasis on inclusiveness, are imperative at this time. We have the intelligence, history of innovation and capacity for tackling huge problems, and the inherent talent in our populous to set a turn-key program for other countries to follow.

Our very fragility is at stake. If you love this glorious planet and all of its wonders and beauty, get involved. Be part of the solution. Mother Nature will reward you with repairs and restoration. And, don’t wait for Earth Day to start a program of personal commitment to reducing your footprint. Walk softly and consciously on every bit of earth that you can. Get busy saving Earth rather than throwing up your hands in defeat. And, accept that humans are not the only intelligence on the planet and develop respect for each kingdom: animal, plant, and mineral.

Human was derived from the mantra “hu” meaning spirit. The intention was to imbue a sense of being a material part of the earth with a spiritual connectiveness. Let’s bring that “Hu” back into our use of land and resources so that Mother will again bless us and not feel the need to evict us!

Like many indigenous people, perhaps begin and end each day in circle calling in the four Cardinal directions and offering profound thanks for each and every way that the planet has supported you and your ancestors.



“Environment is no one’s property to destroy; it’s everyone’s responsibility to protect.” – Mohith Agadi



“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.” ― Franklin D. Roosevelt



“What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.” ― Chris Maser



“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.” 
― Ansel Adams


“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed. “ 
― Mahatma Gandhi