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“Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.” ―Maya Angelou

Trust

Trust can be a variety of things.

The dictionary lists “belief in the reliability” of someone or something. What that does not reveal is that there are many applications of trust: it starts in babies in intrinsic trust of parents or caregivers, perhaps even more when they hit object permanence. From whatever child level you pick, at some point you are a trusting, or not trusting, person.

You can trust a merchant – or not. You can trust your friends, although in varying degrees. You must trust your primary relationship, or it will die. You can trust your political leaders – or not. You can trust your faith to always come through for you – or not.

In how many movies have you heard the line, “You’re gonna have to trust somebody”?

“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” ---Ernest Hemingway

The difficulty with Trust is that when we’re doing it in any important way, it makes us vulnerable and fragile. A breach of trust can be devastating.

You are the only one in charge of your trust and how and when you offer it.

The sign of spiritual freedom is a deep trust in our essential nature, and in the light of awareness that lives through all beings.  This talk explores the conditioning that entraps us in a trance of separation and believing in a limited self.  We then explore the evolutionary shift in identity that is possible as we deepen our attention and presence to the life that is here, and the loving awareness that is the source of existence.

I used to be the classic “white-knuckle flyer.” I was in such a terrified state that I would clutch the armrests and tightly squeeze my partner’s hand to the point of cutting off her circulation. And this wasn’t only during episodes of turbulence; it was at every takeoff and landing and throughout the flight. Anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax or Valium had little effect. Wine only made me sleepy. Visualizations and positive affirmations couldn’t touch the core of my fear. I was convinced I was going to die at every sound or movement of the plane. It took courage to keep flying in the face of that, but I did. Still, no matter how I tried to reframe airplane travel, I remained stuck in my mind’s perceptual prison of danger and unease.

That is, until I met Panache Desai. It wasn’t just the expansive spiritual framework that he introduced me to. It was the experience of God that I first had through his programs and in his presence. The terror of infinity/eternity I had felt since childhood (which was probably feeding my fear of flying) gradually softened into tentative trust in something greater than my own singular life—and finally faith. I began to experience infinity as God, as a peace-filled spaceless space, which, if I surrendered to it, completely enfolded me in its loving embrace. It was an experience of the soul not the mind. That is what changed everything, slowly but monumentally.

I gradually began to fly without fear. At takeoff, I would relax into the power of the energy that was lifting me into space. It was exhilarating instead of terrifying. When the plane floated downward toward the landing strip, my consciousness floated with it. During the flight, I started to look out the window to see the worlds we were passing through instead of staring straight ahead or sitting rigidly with my eyes closed. Prairies and mountains, rivers and lakes, constantly changing clouds, sunrise and sunset, all were visible beyond the plane’s windows, and I had refused to look for years. Suddenly, I couldn’t stop looking, and I began to request window rather than aisle seats. I was Alice stepping through the looking glass into the full magic of life on (and above) Earth.

At times we approach our lives with reluctance, dragging our feet. Attached to the past, apprehensive about the future, we are not fully present to what is happening now. Fear or regret keep us trapped in a repetitive pattern of non-acceptance and non-alignment with the events of life. From the outside, we may look like we’re here, but in truth we are absent. We’ve closed the door to possibility and locked it tightly, believing we are protecting ourselves from disappointment or disaster. However, in shutting down, we lose connection to the threads that tie everything together so perfectly in life’s tapestry. We feel lost and alone. Is it possible to get our bearings and experience connection once again? Absolutely.

In my own life, I find more and more that if I’m willing to be open to whatever is unfolding, that openness transforms my experience in completely unexpected ways. There is a magic that occurs when you just show up in life moment to moment without an agenda, a to-do list, or any preconceptions. In the stillness of Nature, this is easy, but recently I experienced it in one of the most crowded, noisy places imaginable: New York City.

Can you hold others as Able?

This is a powerful concept that is desirable but must be handled with extreme care – it is as sensitive as gelignite.

It is faith-based. That is, you believe it or you don’t, you want to move in that direction or not. It’s completely up to you.

It is validation of another person.

It is the position that that person is capable, in all respects, to deal with what comes their way. They are Able, in your consideration.

One obvious example is: babysitting. Let’s say you are the parent of twin 14 year old daughters. One is studious, makes her bed in the morning, is organized and already knows a lot about cooking; the other is slovenly, inattentive, irresponsible. If you let the first go babysitting in the neighbourhood, you are holding her as Able. Able to get along with the kids, able to handle tasks like getting them to bed, able to handle any emergency that might arise. That is holding her as able.

The odds are lower on the other twin, but it’s one of the mysteries of life that holding someone as able even when you have doubts can sometimes have surprisingly positive results.