The last couple of years have been pretty intense, with crisis after crisis keeping people on edge and in fear, anger, or grief.
Carrying stress for extended times weighs us down and makes us sick and exhausted. So, while it’s important to feel and acknowledge our emotional reactions to all that life brings (rather than avoiding or suppressing them), it’s also important not to attach to those reactions.
Cultivating a sense of inner peace and harmony that remains with us through any emotional or physical upheaval is essential to our happiness, well-being, and sanity.
We need an anchor to keep us from getting swept away in the storms.
Enter, Trust—Trust in life, in the general goodness of the unfolding web of beingness of which each of us is a part.
We live in a society that continually tells us we need to be in control, achieve, perform, progress, get ahead, be special, succeed. We get the message that it’s up to us—you and me, little human ego beings.
Yet, deep down, we know we’re not in control.
We try.
We wish we could be.
But there are too many factors beyond our influence, understanding, or even awareness impacting our lives every moment.
We need Trust in Life so we can relax and enjoy it, maybe even meet it with a bit of grace.
This applies regardless of your spiritual leanings (or lack thereof). There is a web of life that’s beyond our understanding, and we’re all part of it.
But is it for us, against us, unconscious, or indifferent? We can’t know for sure, but a better question might be, “When I believe Life is ____, how does that impact my life, my health, and my happiness?”
It’s a good question for self-inquiry, but there are also people studying these questions more broadly and systematically. For example, hundreds of scientific studies have shown that spiritual beliefs have a real and measurable impact on health.
One of the most prolific researchers in this area is Dr. Gail Ironson, MD, PhD, who has repeatedly found a compelling correlation between positive spiritual beliefs and health.
In one abstract related to HIV, she wrote “…a Positive View of God predicted significantly slower disease-progression (better preservation of CD4-cells, better control of VL), whereas a Negative View of God predicted faster disease-progression over 4 years. Effect sizes were greater than those previously demonstrated for psychosocial variables known to predict HIV-disease-progression, such as depression and coping….These results provide good initial evidence that spiritual beliefs may predict health outcomes.”
That’s right, trusting in a higher power that has your back can literally fight off life-threatening diseases.
Trust and Peace in Spiritual Traditions
Of course, spiritual traditions also have a thing or two to say about this relationship with the thing that’s bigger than us. For instance, in a recent class on Jewish Spiritual Practices, I learned the Hebrew word for Trust in God, Bitachon, as well as a related principle called Emunah.
Emunah has to do with understanding that God created and runs the whole show of life and existence. Bitachon has to do with trusting that God is doing a good job of running the show, including the details of our life and world affairs.
Now, having Bitachon does not mean being passive in your life, sitting on the couch with a bag of potato chips and ‘trusting’ God to take care of everything.
We still have our work to do, whatever it may be. We can intend to live in service to our highest ideals; we just need to accept that the outcomes aren’t up to us.
In facing adversity, Bitachon is a process. One level involves accepting difficulty and honoring it as part of the divine unfolding. A more advanced level is about being so in tune and aligned with the divine that you don’t even perceive problems—there is nothing to accept. All is met with love, or maybe equanimity, or joy.
In Daoism as well, the De, or Virtues of the Sage, arise as you disengage from fear and the need to feel in control.
Nicholas Roerich “Lao Tse”
These are not qualities just anyone can instantly and perfectly embody. They are elevated states of being that emerge from cultivating one’s Shen, or spirit, slowly, over a long time. They can’t be forced any more than you can force yourself to be an overnight piano virtuoso.
So, just chill, and do your best. Treat yourself kindly; you can never go wrong with that.
How to Cultivate Trust
Questions provide a great starting point for internal change. The answers aren’t even always as important as asking the questions.
A good first question might be, ‘What gets in the way of my Trust?’ Maybe it’s negative self-talk. Maybe it’s eating junk, not exercising, and staying up too late. Is it O.D.ing on negative information from TV or the internet? Is there a belief that needs to be reconsidered?
Ask a number of times and see what comes to mind.
Next question, for each barrier you identify: ‘What would it take to release or reconfigure this barrier to Trust?’ Again, ask repeatedly, journal, meditate, etc.
These are powerful pattern interrupts for negativity and tension—and pattern kickstarters for well-being and Trust. Sometimes the best medicine is simply to do something that is generally uplifting—move your body, do something nice for someone, put on some music—and let the details sort themselves out.
One of my favorite songs came on the radio as I was writing this at a cafe. You might think it’s cheesy, but Bobby McFerrin’s ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ is gold. If you haven’t heard it in awhile, or ever (if that’s possible?), I highly recommend giving it a good listen. It will instantly get stuck in your head and your life will be better.
Or maybe it’ll drive you crazy. If so, my apologies. I will say that a bus boy walked by after the song ended, a spring in his step, still humming the tune, and smiling big. Then I smiled too. And the world seemed brighter.
As 2017 comes to a close, I wish you happiness, peace, and deep, abiding Trust.
P.S. For a fun resource on Trust, check out Rob Brezsny’s raucous book Pronoia is the Antidote for Paranoia.
