Trust

By: Frances O. Ponce

Faith plus Believing equals Trust

Trust is one of the fundamental values we form as we grow up. From the time we are born, we develop a sense of trust to our parents as they care for us and sustain us for our growth. Even to the simplest of tasks we do in our everyday lives, we put a sense of trust to other people around us. For example, when we go to our workplaces we put trust to jeepney drivers and taxi drivers because we know that they will send us to our destination safely.

According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, the author of the best-selling book "Wherever you go There you are", trust is a feeling of confidence or conviction that things can unfold within a dependable framework that embodies order and integrity. We induce trust to a certain person, object or situation because we know that he will do it with integrity in mind; that a certain object will perform as objectively expected; and that a certain situation will surely pass and it will bring us good fortune.

A very apparent and common situation where trust is very important is in terms of relationships. When someone courts a girl-- her decision whether to accept him or not as her boyfriend depends to some extent on trust. When she notices that the boy is very sincere in his courting, she will accept him. And a deeper sense of trust will continually develop as their relationship blooms and pass through the test of time.

Trust is very important in any areas of life. We cannot simply carry out our tasks and reach our goals without developing the value of trust. It is very essential to the fulfillment of our endeavors as human beings. It cannot be substituted with anything even technology will continually develop. It is a universal value and it will continually survive through time.

"We may not understand what is happening to us, or to another, or what is occurring in a particular situation: but if we trust ourselves, or another, or we place our trust in a process or an ideal, we can find a powerful stabilizing element embracing security, balance, and openness within the trusting which, in some way, if not based on naivete, intuitively guides us and protects us from harm or self-destruction." -- Jon Kabat-Zinn