Do You Trust Others Over Yourself?

If so, it's time to get to know yourself better

Have you ever listened to a speech or watched an event unfold on the news and when the broadcaster’s comment on what they heard or saw you find yourself thinking, “Did we just see the same thing?”

And as a result of ‘the experts’ having a different perception than your own – have you ever found yourself questioning that maybe yours is wrong and theirs is right?

Coming to deeply trust ourself takes at least three things – the first two being a curiosity which then leads to action. We’re curious enough to look into things for ourself rather than believe what anyone else happens to say.

Regardless of who sees things differently than we do - whether it’s the majority of people, ‘the experts’ or a loved one we trust – if we remain open and something seems questionable, our curiosity will naturally lead us to look deeper.

This is what happened recently with David, a self-described ‘reformed physicist’ and resident of Ottawa. After reading what the majority of reporters were saying about the Canadian trucker convoy protest, such as they “are white supremacists, racists, hatemongers, pseudo-Trumpian grifters, and even QAnon-style nutters”, he decided to step out of his front door and investigate directly.

Rather than believe what the majority were saying, he was curious enough to take action and see for himself – and then he wrote about what he saw in his article, A Night With The Untouchables.

Coming to trust ourself – trust that we can actually make sense of things - does take curiosity and acting on that curiosity but it also takes a sense of ‘which direction’ is aligned with life and which direction is not.

There are two directions we can stand in – freedom or control. The first one includes life affirming qualities such as curiosity, clarity, love and peace and the second includes life denying qualities such as censorship, confusion, division and conflict. 

Getting a sense of which direction is life affirming – in other words, in your (and everyone’s) best interest – is not a matter of belief or taking anyone’s word for it. It is a matter of paying attention – and being honest.

When we pay attention to what feels life affirming in our own experience – freedom or control – and we’re honest enough to realize that all others are built the same as we are, so to speak – then we are well on our way to trusting ourself enough to make sense of what is going on in the world.

The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.

Goethe

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