For most people, the concept of trust is contingent or conditional. They claim that they would trust more if only there were more people who were trustworthy. On one level, this makes sense and is understandable since traumas in our mind and body become crystallized as patterns in our heart and soul. To break these old patterns means to commit to the road of spirituality and healing. Please notice that I've mentioned the path of spirituality and healing. Many students and teachers of spirituality believe that you need only work on the spiritual self, which is ultimately like working from the centers of the mind and soul while neglecting the feelings and body. The true self, or whole person, knows the importance of integrating spirit into all parts of our being. For us to shift from fear to love, trauma to healing, or old limitations to unlimited miracles, we must first open our hearts and develop trust.

As we develop trust, which is an attribute of Christ consciousness, we confront the issues that pushed love and trust away in the first place. As Edgar Cayce said, "There are no shortcuts." Trying to experience love and trust without facing our issues is like attempting to gain nutritional nourishment without eating.

So what do we do? It feels like a "no win" situation. If we do not trust, then we will never know love or our divinity and we'll be on this life quest forever. On the other hand, if we do trust, we could end up getting hurt again, which results in closing up and blocking even more love and trust from our life. Where there is no trust, there is no love and where there is no love, there are no miracles and no healing.

There is but one answer to this dilemma. You have to gamble, but gamble on a sure thing. Trust in God and yourself first, before you displace it onto others. This gets a bit tricky, so listen carefully. I've seen this concept misunderstood and misused by those who are coming from a hurt place saying, "I should have known better" or "I should have trusted in myself and my gut feeling." The context of their comments denotes using trust as a defense. They are trying to choose trusting themselves (which is safe) versus trusting another (who will potentially hurt them). This is a mistaken view of trust.

Real trust means that you see that we are all ONE and that there is no one "else" to trust. All others are merely a mirror reflection of how you are doing in your inner experience and how close you are getting to God. The only function that others have is to show you a holy image of your life process or to become the blame for your mistaken choices and beliefs.

To develop real trust, you must first learn to be responsible and accountable. This brings you back to your power, which means the power to choose, including the power to choose to trust. Then, if your trust becomes threatened or bruised, it's time to take a step back, take a deep breath, process whatever issues arise, make necessary adjustments and move forward again. Yet, always bring it back to what the experience is holding for you. Avoid blaming others, being needy and giving to others your potential for having a good life. Your experience is yours. If you don't like it, change the patterns in your own heart and soul. This is done through your commitment to healing your life as well as your commitment to your spiritual path. You will never find bliss by blaming others for your lack of it.

Fortunately, as we grow in this process, we actually attract more trustworthy friends, lovers and associates. Yet, people are human and to err is human. These others might let you down, but remember that the pain of the letdowns comes from your misdirected attachments and not merely from the actions of others.

If you ski or do financial investments, you might choose to invest your trust in a certain slope or financial trend. If, however, you get knocked down by either, does it mean that God, the mountain, money or the stock market is bad or that you should never trust in these again? Hardly! You can choose to get back up and prepare to move forward. However, now is a good opportunity to learn if some mountains are simply too big for you at this time. In other words, you can learn what your own current limits are and where you can establish your boundaries.

The same applies to relationships. It's not necessary to go into fear and blame mode and remain there, forever hungry for love. There are times when we are learning what we can responsibly handle at a given time. If I am addicted to alcohol, maybe I need to act responsibly as to what environments I am choosing rather than blaming the bartender for my decision to have another drink. If I keep finding myself in unhealthy relationships, maybe I need to work more on healing my inner self before I decide to share my life, body and soul with another.

There are no real limits in this Universe. Love has never been restricted from one and given to another. All forms of apparent limitation are self-imposed, brought about by our own deep unconscious belief that we are undeserving. Whenever we experience a betrayal of trust, it is merely our own unseen attempt to push love away. As we heal our own issues with Love, we gradually allow ourselves to trust again. Then, and only then, love finally becomes our integrated experience.