To be clear right from the start, I cannot claim ownership of the slogan “I am a believer of love and trust” but it is too good not to use.
I had the honour of proofreading a text for a good friend’s new business and she asked for my opinion. In doing so, I made sure I took time to put myself in this person’s shoes and help them as best as possible.
So, this was the penultimate section and there it stood, black on white: “I am a believer of love and trust”. I almost spat out my cinnamon camomile tea over the couch and I had to laugh silently to myself since it was around 10 p.m.
Truth be told, she and I were as far away as the North and South Poles.
I picked up my phone and called her.
“J, can I speak to you quickly about this sentence – can I remind you of how you freaked out just last week? You’re not exactly a “believer of love and trust”, but it reads quite well for those with a maybe esoteric way of thinking. Please take this sentence out.”
We both laughed because we knew that it was the truth, especially in relation to the two of us. I think this moment can be described as “eye-opening”.
However, weeks later I found myself asking, what is a “believer of love and trust”?
Is it someone who sees something positive in every situation? Who always believes in love and trust even despite major personal disappointments and thinks it will work out eventually?
Perhaps this is the only right way, which we have forgotten in our society because we are chasing one goal after another and not simply standing still for a moment and trusting. Maybe “J” was right and I am simply too “realistic” to accept it and recognise that it hits at the very core of things. I’m not talking about love here, only about trust.
The longer I grappled with this thought, the more I realised that trust is, to paraphrase Goethe’s words, the crux of the matter. It is the crucial question in our debate. “Do we trust ourselves enough?” to recognise what is good for us and when we are making compromises that really don’t serve us, but we put up with anyway.
In today’s society, trust is a rare asset because we all call everything into question. Do we trust the words said, the gestures shown, the view in front of us? Do we trust our intuition and how it makes us feel?
I am certainly not proposing a solution here, but instead a new question. In the end, what we want in relation to “love and trust” is clarity and we only get that if we ask ourselves what we really want.
Clarity!
What do we want (really)?
What do we want (really)?
What do we want (really)?
Clarity for us!