Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, we have gathered today to speak about

overcoming adversity and coping with the storms of life. This is very deep
theme, and I am sure that anyone has many stories based on the challenges
and their overcoming. But today we will concentrate on the issue of
overcoming. In this light, it is important to emphasize the postulate that all
challenges are timely, and they are not accidental. God tests us in such way.
You cannot realize the real value of your life if you have not compared it to
something. God sends us trials so that we could understand the deepness of
His goodwill and love. No one is alone until he has his faith. The Bible has
such words: "God withdrew from him, in order to test him, that He might
know all that was in his heart" (Chronicles 32:31 NKJ). So, you see that even
in His withdrawal, God is always with us. Sending us trials and challenges, He
wants to demonstrate us the real power we have inside, the real power he
gave us. Often we fail to use it properly, because we don't know how strong
we are. In order to help us see our values He assigned us to, He sends us
trials. There is no sense in crying over the trouble - "the best way out is
always through", as Robert Frost claimed. So, you should not concentrate on
your problems, but rather on the way how to solve them. Look forward,
because life is beautiful, and God created it for us. "That which does not kill
us makes us stronger" - these words of the famous philosopher demonstrate
that we are the instruments in the hands of God. Remember, how many times
you thought that this was the hardest thing you've ever done. Then you
experience something even harder, and you understand that you became
stronger. Now you can endure even more. This is the eternal process of
human development. I have met a lot of people who overcame the storms of
life with dignity and faith. they all admit, that these challenges made their
lives brighter. They understood the real value of life - it is invaluable. And
there is no sense in suffering - accept it and overcome. This is life. It does not
consist of dreams and happy days, but of alternation of days and nights both happy and miserable. Thus, another sense of adversity comes to the
foreground - it makes us closer to our destiny. Japanese proverb says, "Fall
seven times, stand up eight" - and this eighth may be lucky chance which will
bring you to your happiness. May be not, but then you'll have to believe, fight
and stand up as much as it will be needed. Storms of life are transient, no
matter how hard they are - some day you will definitely reach your desired
peaceful shore.

Just listen to the words written in the Holy Bible: "Blessed is the man who
endures temptation; for when he has been proved, he will receive the crown
of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him" (JAMES 1:12-13,
16-17 NKJ). Temptation to yield - overcome it! Temptation to blame God, fate
and everybody around you in all your troubles - overcome it! All your life is

the sequence of choices. When a person makes his choice in favor of faith he wins! Overcoming adversities and demonstrating strong will and belief, a
human will obtain the "crown" - for he has shown his love to God, by
accepting all challenges as needed and coping with them with the name of
God on the lips. And God loves us, helps us and support us, and this is the
main truth a person should remember when fighting with difficulties in life.
Don't be alone in your struggle, accept it and entrust to your God. For, as He
told, "When you pass through the waters I will be with you; when you pass
through rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I Am the Lord
your Savior." (Isaiah 43:2, NIV). All our mundane difficulties may seem crucial
and catastrophic to us, but in fact they are only the episodes in the history of
the humanity. Each life is saint and important in the eyes of God, so don't thin
your faith and sacrifice are inessential. They mean a lot, especially when they
are heartfelt and sincere.

God bless you all!

speeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech
Love is a complex perplexity that has been defined by countless people; yet,
no one has ever been close in grasping its true nature. One may turn to
his/her dictionary to look for the meaning; however, even the dictionary
cannot define this exactly. We then ask, how will we know if were already in
love if we, ourselves, cannot even identify it? It is an intricate question;
indeed, we often confuse love with various feelings like lust and infatuation.

Back in our Elementary days, we had our own crushes and immediately
thought that it was love; hence, the catchphrase I am in love with you and
the ever-popular love at first sight. People carry the belief until they grow
up. They are being blinded by this sad thing. What they dont know is that its
not love; in fact, it is called Infatuation. We know its infatuation since
Infatuation is distinguished by a lack of trust, loyalty, commitment, and
reciprocity; in addition, there is the presence of the obsessor and the apple of
the eye, which of course may or may not be attainable.

For kids, theres infatuation; however, for young adults and adults alike, there
is lust. Lust, also known as lechery, is an impure act that involves ones
desire of the flesh of another. Lust is prevalent in teenagers and adults
alike. Whenever they see an attractive person, they feel infatuated and

afterward, think of unclean thoughts involving them and the concerned

person. What is sad about this is that once their desires have been met, they
grow tired and eventually leave their partners.

What really is love then? Is it safe to say that love is anything that doesnt fall
under infatuation and lust? Love is definitely a deeper feeling; on the
contrary, infatuation and lust are simply feelings that are too shallow. Love is
simply too complex to be talked out; subsequently, many people still end up
being perplexed by love. This makes love a very special feeling; uniquely, it
gives one an experience that no other feeling could give and that includes
lust and infatuation.

When everything is said and done, we can all say that love is indeed a
wonderful feeling which can be talked about for a very long time.

A Short Speech on Love.

It is all too easy, when our deepest friendship is torn, to believe all the love
has gone out of our lives. To have someone mean so much then mean
nothing at all always threatens to tear us apart. Our hearts and heads tell us
the same story of hate, lies that our lives have lost meaning, a tunnel vision
that threatens to consume us.

When we are broken and sad, it's easy to forget the love in our lives. The love
that is true never leaves us; the love of friends; the love of brothers; the love
of sisters; the love of mothers; the love of fathers; the love of God. Yet in the
midst of the gaping hole in our hearts tormenting us, it is no wonder that all
these loves seem to shrink, to not save us from hate, hatred of ourselves and
the world.

It's all too easy to dismiss broken love as the folly of the young. Failed love is
something one must pick oneself up from with ease, lest they be considered
weak by themselves or others.

Rather than seek blame, seek the comfort of love when it has forsaken you in
one form. Bonds of friendship, of family, of loving Creator are not bonds

easily broken. However, when they are, find the ones in your life who love
you and live in the comfort of being cared for. Find meaning in your loved
ones; find peace in their arms; find love where it can be found, for it is scarce.
LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE
Love and hate are one of the strongest opposites in our dichotomous
thinking. Why then unhappy love often turns into deep hate and ruined
relationships? A person in love loves everyone. This overwhelmingly positive
feeling can change the world drastically. A person in hate becomes an
enormous destructive force. It drives to an abyss of violence.

Have you ever experienced real light of love and real darkness of hate?

Love may be more powerful than hate because, as it was in the song, love
can lead to hate, whereas hate never, even metaphorically, produces love.
Love is more powerful because it gives birth to new positive challenges. Love
changes a person, enriches the world, extends the horizons, enhances
opportunities, brightens friendships, and deepens emotions. A person in love
has a specific aura, a peculiar kind of energy that is given off, scattered in all
directions, like the light of the myriads of stars, sliding through ages,
celebrating Juliet, Laura, Natasha, Ophelia, Desdemona, all those love stories,
powerful in their complexity of feelings and emotions, all about eternal love.

But love can go away. It simply disappears, vanishes. So powerful to

disappear, or love never goes away. Love's components are intimacy,
passion, and commitment, with all their variations. Consummate love that
balances them all is rare. If Romeo and Juliet had lived longer, would they
have loved each other with the same intimacy, passion, and commitment? I
have doubts. Love is powerful because it can transform. It is, in fact, a
transforming process of flexible relationships, in which intimacy remains
stable.

Who ever lived to hate? Love is powerful because it drives, navigates, directs,
and makes our existence meaningful. Hate invites loneliness, whereas love
denies it. Hate ruins personality, whereas love builds ego identity. Hate
results in acts of violence, whereas love leads to amazing acts of kindness.
Hate destroys, whereas love creates. Hate is war, whereas love is peace. Hate
is bad, whereas love is good. Hate is revenge, whereas love is construction.

Hate is meaningless, whereas love is meaningful. It is impossible "to love to

hate". It is always "love" that gives birth to "love". That's why love is more
powerful than hate, if you follow me.

Discover your powers. Discover love in yourselves. Be sure you're more

powerful to love than to hate. Keep love inside, and all will be always fine.

Definition Essay: Trust

Out of all the things that we want from any relationship (be it with friends,
family, boyfriends and girlfriends, or someone else) trust is perhaps the most
vital. But despite the fact that its something that we all want, both in
ourselves trusting others and others trusting us, it is one of the hardest
things to define.
One of the most important aspects of trust is to being able to place
confidence in another person. Often this comes down to being able to tell
someone a secret of some kind and knowing that they wont reveal it to
another soul. This is important, especially with friends, because we all have
things we need to talk about but that we might not want shared with
everyone. On other occasions, although not being the best thing that any of
us do, it can mean telling someone elses secret to a third person and
knowing that they will not give away that you broke someone elses
confidence.
The other main aspect of trust is knowing that a person will always tell you
the truth and not hide anything. This is often the biggest problem with trust
with lovers, when on person will be hiding things from the other. This often
leads to the suspicious person snooping around in their partners things,
reading their text messages and emails, and even following them if they
suspect that they are lying about where they are going. Often this problem is
caused by another break of trust: cheating.
Cheating is often the worst thing that people can do their partner, as the trust
placed in that person is on the understanding that they will not be with
another person. However, it is often that lying that goes with cheating that is
the biggest problem, and worse than the cheating itself. For example, many
people are able to forgive their partners if the offence has been admitted to
straight away and apologized sincerely for. However, if someone finds out
another way that their partner has cheated, through another person or
through their own investigations, it is often unforgivable.
Trust is also something that must also be placed with people you dont know

all that well, or even people that you dont know at all. For example, we have
to trust teachers to be teaching us the right things and grading our work
fairly. In terms of total strangers, we have to trust doctors to take care of us
and give us the right medication or perform surgery well, and emergency
services like the police and fire services to come to our aid if we need them.
All in all, trust is a very important thing that we must be able to place in
many different people.
What is Trust?

Trust is defined in the dictionary as believing in someone. However, it is

not that simple to understand. It goes into deeper meaning as we continue to
live, grow and experience different challenges in life. Trust is believing in
someone with your heart, knowing that he/she will cherish it as a treasure
inside him/her.

There are different kinds of trust and these are: trust in family, trust in
someone special and trust in friends. Our trust in family is of big importance
because we have lived with them from the day we were born until we mature.
Most of our secrets during our childhood are known by our family and we
have deep trust in them because they took care of us. We have grown
attached to them so they are the first to know our secrets most of the time.
They know when we are acting strange or disturbed because they have
known us since our childhood. We let them know almost everything about us.
They are the ones we go back to when we do not have anywhere to go.
Another kind of trust is trust in someone special or trust in our true love.
He/she is the one who knows everything about us. We tell him/her everything
that we keep inside ourselves because we believe in him/her and we have
commitment with him/her. Sometimes it just takes time before we confide in
him/her our secrets and other personal issues but we will surely tell him/her
when we have really committed ourselves with him/her. There are no secrets
between you two if you truly love each other. This is just a part of your
commitment to each other. Another kind of trust is trust in friends. We let our
friends know about some of our secrets but we keep our darkest secrets and
our secrets from the past from them. We do not trust them right away
because there are times that others betray you. It is when you and your
friend had spent a very long time with each other that you can trust each
other more.

There have been instances wherein others have shown their trust in

me. During my second year in high school, it was the only time when I had
many female friends because my section that time was very friendly. That
was also the only time when many of my friends really trusted me. I had this
friend who liked a guy who was also liked by her close friend. She told me
that she was falling for the guy who likes her close friend and that her close
friend likes the guy too. She did not like their friendship to be affected by her
falling for the guy so she just kept it from her close friend. I was close to both
of them and I told our friend whom she kept the secret from about it. That
incident made my friend who was keeping the secret cry. I made her cry and I
do not know why I did such a bad thing that time. I was really sorry and the
good thing is that their friendship did not break. My friend just forgot about
what I did. Even though the issue was resolved already, my conscience kept
killing me up until now. I learned a lot about trust because of that. I learned
that trust is a hard thing to regain and you will need to go back to square one
just to build it up again.

Trust is really not easy to earn. It is not given to others but rather, it is
earned. It is not something that is as simple as believing. Instead, it involves
your believing in each other, knowing that you will not let each other down.

Therefore, trust is very important to us. Without it, people cannot live
with each other in unity. Trust is a big factor in unity. It can only be explained
fully by our hearts. There is something special inside us that allow us to trust
and be trusted. People have a place in our hearts and that is why we trust
them. It is also the same to them; we have a place in their hearts. It is like a
magic in this world that every living thing possesses. It is betting our life just
to express ourselves.

Reflection:
I decided to write a definition essay about trust because trust is a very
important thing in relationships of people. I wrote this essay purely based on
my experiences. It was quite hard to dig in the words that would best
describe trust in a creative way. This essay made me remember my
responsibilities as a friend and a member of a family. It also made me reflect
on my mistakes and what I should do to make my relationship with others
better. Trust has different meanings depending on peoples experiences. I
hope that readers would learn from this essay.

When you give a speech, especially when you want to influence your
audience, you must first win their trust.

Trust is a belief in or a reliance on a persons competence, integrity, and

benevolence.

Competence: People are able to do what they intend or promise to do. If we

doubt peoples ability to carry through on their good intentions or to keep
their promises, we wont trust them.
Integrity: People consistently act in accord with ethical standards: they are
honest, fair, and decent. Its hard, if not impossible, to trust people who do
bad things.
Benevolence: People are concerned about other peoples welfare. They may
have their own agendas and goals, but they care about other peoples
feelings, needs, and wellbeing. We distrust people for good reason who
are only out for themselves.
Hard Truths about Building Trust

It would be nice to think that there are simple rules dos and donts for
building trust. (Do tell the truth. Do be respectful. Do keep your promises.
Dont withhold information that people need and have the right to.) But the
truth is more complex and challenging.

1. Theres No Quick and Easy Way to Build Trust.

We earn trust by showing people over and over again that they can rely on
our competence, integrity, and benevolence. And we earn peoples trust,
paradoxically, by trusting them.

2. Building Trust Is Not All Up to Us.

Sometimes people distrust us not because of what we do or say, but because

of their experiences, expectations, and temperaments. Its only in our power

to be worthy of trust. Its up to the other person to choose to trust us or not.

3. Trust Puts Us at Risk.

When we trust others, we accept and believe in their words, actions, and
decisions. And we may be wrong. To earn peoples trust, we let them know
what we think and feel, what matters to us, what we want. And they may use
it against us. If no risk is involved, trust is unnecessary.

Trust is not easily given, nor easily earned. That is, in part, what makes it so
valuable.

There are things you can do when giving a speech techniques you can
employ to build rapport with an audience. (Establishing rapport is one step
in building trust with an audience.) But its more important (and effective)
simply to be worthy of trust. Your competence, integrity, and benevolence will
show through in your words, in your voice, in your gestures. And thats what
matters, isnt it?

7 REASONS THAT TRUST IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN LOVE

1. We can only love someone we trust.

Love is built on trust. As rational individuals, we can only naturally love

someone we already trust. Relationships that arent anchored in trust are not
made to survive rocky trials.

2. Love only reflects our ability to trust others.

Our ability to selflessly give ourselves to others comes with a guarantee of

reciprocation. We trust in order to be trusted, but we love only with the hope
of being loved back.

3. We use trust to control our emotions.

We are emotional beings who put more emphasis on the means than the end.
We engage ourselves in meaningful relationships that we value. Hence, we
use trust to gauge our relationship with others, and in the process, we figure
out how much we are willing to give of ourselves to others.

4. We put a premium on trust as the building block of any relationship.

Trust precedes love. Every type of relationship is anchored on our ability to be

open and share ourselves with others.

5. Judgment is clouded by love but illuminated by trust.

We think that love can save us from emotional roller coasters. More often
than not, we are blinded by what love has to offergaining the acceptance,
admiration, and approval of others. What we fail to consider is the fact that
sometimes, our judgment becomes flawed because there are times when
love suppresses reason and we get trapped in its foolish play. Trust, on the
other hand, routes us back to the reason we built the relationship
establishing a lifelong connection with that person.

6. Trust conquers all.

We always believe that love conquers all, but it is trust that pushes us to
believe that we can and will conquer every obstacle. We can say that love is
the overarching concept of overcoming whatever obstacle comes our way,
but it is trust that holds everything together. It is the glue to every gap and
difference.

7. Trust is what makes us love again.

At the end of it all, after we fall down, get back up, and head back on track,
trust enables us to believe that deep inside, we are all hopeless romantics
just trying to find our own better half among the seven billion little souls on
Earth.
TRUST----------------------------------------------------Note: Many of us have a hard time trusting others. If we're children of
parents
with addictive behaviors (alcoholics, gamblers, etc.) or if we've been
betrayed
by a spouse or parent or sibling or other loved one, we find it very difficult
to trust others and to trust life. That situation will be covered on the
"mistrust" page.

It honestly goes against my idealistic nature to put trust here as an obstacle

to living life fully. After all, isn't trust something that we all should have?
Doesn't the lack of trust lead to suspicion and cynicism? Don't we lose a
great deal of our so-called innocence when we reject trust? Well, yes and no
to all of those questions.
Trust is a wonderful ideal, but what concerns me is the tendency among
many people to put too much trust in other people, or trust in the wrong
people. Both actions lead to extremely negative results that can affect one's
own self-esteem and perspective of life. Another damaging aspect of trust is
how we feel about ourselves and our lives after our trust has been betrayed.
This idea may fit better on a page called "betrayal," but betrayal is something
that others do to us, not something that we have control over. We have
control over the level of trust we put in someone and over the way we react
when that trust has been betrayed.

When we entrust too much to another person, we face several risks. First of
all, we may become too dependent on that other person, and we may start to

feel a diminished sense of trust in ourselves. We've put such a huge part of
our own burden on someone else that we may lose our own ability to deal
with that burden. What happens if that other person leaves? What do we do
then? We either have to pick up everything where it was left, or we have to
shift our trust to someone else, who may or may not deserve to have it,
which is a very stressful situation.

Entrusting too much to another person also puts a huge burden on that other
person, and he or she may start to feel overwhelmed with the responsibility
of another person's burdens. If that happens, it will become difficult for that
person to continue to carry so much trust, and he or she may end up
betraying or trust or rejecting it completely. In any case, as soon as our trust
passes a certain level, it becomes a burden to someone else. Such a burden
is very easy to reject or betray, especially as time wears on. We end up
setting ourselves up for huge problems.

More importantly, though, as an obstacle to a happy life, putting our trust in

the wrong people can be quite devastating. As an example, we recently were
in the market for a new car. We checked out a few on-line car markets, and
two days later got a phone call from a local dealer that had been notified an
on-line market that we were interested in purchasing a car. We told the
salesman that we wanted only to look, and he said fine, come on in. So we
went.

Of course, not too many people trust car salespeople to begin with, but I hate
blindly agreeing with stereotypes, and I wanted to trust him. But this guy
proved that the stereotype is often an earned one. He did everything to build
trust, giving us the keys and telling us to take our time, "proving" his trust in
us. He asked about the family and tried to be real personal. Within an hour,
though, he had a contract written up and wanted us to sign on the bottom
line. We refused, and he told us that another salesperson had a customer
who was interested in the same vehicle, and it might not be there in a couple
of days. We left. Two weeks later, we drove by the lot in the new car we had
bought elsewhere and saw the other car still there. We also found out later
that he had overstated the amount of the trade-in allowance they had given,

virtually lying about the amounts. We ended up paying $80 a month less for
the same car with someone who sat down with us, explained all the numbers
and options, and allowed us to take our time.

If we had trusted the first man, we would have been stuck with payments
that were far too high for us. We also would have been ripped off, and the
car would have become something different to us, more of an overpriced
problem than the reliable vehicle that we needed.

But that's a very typical example. What happens when we trust a best friend
to keep a secret for us, and that best friend tells others what we didn't want
them to tell? And if we trust someone to do something for us while we're on
vacation, and that someone doesn't do what we asked? Or what about
trusting someone to show up on time and have them get there an hour late,
ruining an afternoon or evening, because now the place you wanted to go to
is far too crowded to get into?

None of these are unrealistic situations, but in each case, we're the ones who
now have to deal with unpleasant situations because we've entrusted
something important to someone else. We face anger, resentment,
frustration, and many other negative feelings simply because of another's
actions. It's very hard not to take such problems personally, too, and once
we do that, it's pretty much a given that we're going to be down or angry for
a while.

So what do we do? Basically, there's only one workable response to someone

who's violated our trust: forgiveness. But we also have to take a lesson from
the situation, and learn that we need to be very careful where we put our
trust, for as soon as we put our trust in another, we set ourselves up for
potential disappointment and harm. We have to trust, for if we don't, we
become callous, cold, cynical individuals. But we have to trust the right
people, and we have to entrust the right things to them. It's always our call,
even though we later may want to shift the blame to the other person.
There is a lots of relationship in our life and in this world like - a relationship
between husband and wife, friends, parents and children, classmates,
workmates and even neighbors. A relationship is easy to make but it is so
hard to make that relationship stronger and lasting. A long lasting
relationship is very easy to establish if we put the spirit of trust and love in

our hearts.because love and trust is the requirement in a relationship to make

it lasting. When these two character leaves from our relation then that
relation becomes weak. Relationship is the only thing on the basis of which
the whole human being is lasting so if we think logically we can see that
strong relationship gives born to a enjoyable living.among different types of
relationship there are some specific relationship which should be strong and
lasting to lead a better life.like we must hope to last the relationship within
our family or with our spouse. We should treat this relationship seriously in
order to build a lasting, happy, strong and enjoyable partnership.

The two characters- LOVE and TRUST

Firstly Love
love is nothing but the greatest gift in the whole world. We can not define
love specific. But we the people misuse the word "love". We misinterpret love
with possessiveness and jealousy.love is of different types. Each unique
relationship has its own type of love. Like love in the relationship between
husband and wife, friends, classmates family etc. any person loves to share
the blessings with anyone whom the person choose to spend his lifetime
with. Love connects with our hearts. Love is the feeling which can be felt
when it comes or lost. For the reason of love we walk towards anyone. When
we love anyone from the bottom of our heart we give everything of our self
instead of asking. Love is also a bridge .like a bridge connects one side of a
river with another side as love is a bridge of the hearts. We communicate
with others to make a bridge between the differences of our personalities
with our partner. We create a bond with our partner and as a result we
become one instead of two. We accept all the thinking of our partner though
we know that our personality is different from one another. There is only one
word in the world which has no definition and explanation is the word "love".

Secondly Trust
Protecting the love is the trust as the second requirement of a lasting
relationship. When we love anyone then we trust him or her. Trust is the
implied value of a relationship. We choose to trust our partner only for this
trust. Trust is that thing which is broken on time is broken forever. Sometimes
we think that trust can be picked up again but it is not true. When we lose
trust from anyone we can not gain trust about him easily.trust should be
maintained by each side of a relationship. Rebuilding trust is the hardest work

in life. It can be compared with a glass. When a glass is broken it's pieces can
be picked up and can be joined again but the perfect glass can never be maid
because the sign of broken pieces will alive. As trust is broken one time it can
be rebuild after a long run and hard work but the sing of breaking trust will
alive forever so it should be kept in mind that the trust should never be
broken at any cost.because trust is the value within our self, is the character
related with ourselves.one must trust one's partner but it does not mean that
one will be passive. One must show to his partner that his trust should be
respected by the partner. Losing trust is the first step of losing love. Any
person can not continue loving to ensure that his trust is safe. Because when
we love anyone we give respect to him, we let him enjoy his freedom, let him
enjoy his life, we give him everything.and for exchange that person should
also give the respect to our trust.

Trust is both reason of love and result of love. To make a relationship strong
and lasting both love and trust is necessary.we should make such relationship
where the freedom and happiness will exists.each and everyone wants such
partner whom he can love and trust.so we must give importance to love and
trust in our relationship and life.

trustttttttttttttttttttttttttt ttttttttttttttttttttttt-----Trust in each other gives strength and vitality to our relationships. It gives us
inner happiness, which is priceless. It brings joy all around and life appears
brighter and brighter. Its fragrance spreads far and wide. Trust keeps us in a
positive mental framework. When you trust each other you feel self-confident.
The feeling of believing others is electrifying. It not only provides sense of
security but provides us new zeal to fight the vagaries of life. Trusting each
other gives us a sense of deep bonding. It signifies that we are united to fight
the battles ahead.

Trust is a synonym for warmth in our relationships.

With so many advantages of trusting each other, how do we feel when germs
of mistrust appear? Life appears to be devoid of colour and lacks spontaneity.
We behave with each other mechanically like robots .We constantly live with
fear and tensions. We live in our shells and we are unable to share with each

other. We live in suppressed condition, which inhibits the growth of our

personality. As a result we are not able to contribute for the betterment of the
society. We are unable to create a conducive atmosphere where there is
transparency all around. A society whose foundation is built around trust is
progressive and dynamic. Lack of trust signifies decay in the society.

Building up trust is not easy. A lot of conscious effort has to be made in this
direction. We need to nurture our relationships with care. We should not let
our ego destroy our relationships. This requires making constant efforts to
know each other fully. The more we explore each other the more we can
handle each others contradictions well. After all most of the problems in
relationships occur because we do not want to open up. As a result we tend
to look at others with doubt. We live in our own world of likes and dislikes, as
we are not able to create a right balance. No doubt, people tend to view us
with suspicion. If we are balanced and mature in our thoughts and action,
people will trust us. For this we must shed the habit of finding fault with
others even on a slight pretext. Instead we should identify and make others
aware of their positive traits and strengths. This will enhance our credibility,
which will lead to building trust. We must not indulge in unhealthy
competition by trying to outwit each other. Instead we should master the art
of rejoicing in the happiness of others. Good performance of others should
spur us to act in a positive manner. Being jealous and competitive will be of
no use as it will lead to destroying trust.

No one is perfect in todays era. If there would have been perfection all
around then no trace of mistrust would have been present. We must build
trust against the backdrop of limitations in our personalities. Mistrust is itself
a reflection of our inadequacies and imperfections in handling our
relationships with finesse. After all: reform begins at home. Let us reform
ourselves by giving time to our relationships and thinking of ways to
strengthen them. Trust will then follow naturally.

TRUST----------------------Earlier today, I googled the word trust. It was a sobering experience. I was
more than 20 pages into the results before meeting a single instance of trust
in the sense of belief in something or someone. There were all types of
financial trusts, businesses with trust in their names, companies eager to
help you set up personal trusts, charitable trusts of every kindbut nothing
about putting your trust in anything or anyone. When I did find an entry

relating to trust in this common sense, it was about mistrust; a psychiatrist

offering help for people whose trust had been abused through infidelity or
fraud!

Trust is fundamental to life. If you cannot trust in anything, life becomes

intolerablea constant battle against paranoia and looming disaster. You
cant have relationships without trust, let alone good ones. Intimacy depends
on it. I suspect more marriages are wrecked by lack of trust than by actual
infidelity. The partner who cant trust the other not to betray him or her will
either drive them away or force them into some real or assumed act of
faithlessness.

In the workplace too, trust is essential. An organization without trust will be

full of backstabbing, fear and paranoid suspicion. If you work for a boss who
doesnt trust her people to do things right, youll have a miserable time of it.
Shell be checking up on you all the time, correcting mistakes and
oversights and constantly reminding you to do this or that. Colleagues who
dont trust one another will need to spend more time watching their backs
than doing any useful work. The office politics would make Machiavelli blush.

Organizations are always trying to cut costs. Think of all the additional tasks
that are caused directly by lack of trust. Audit departments only exist
because of it. Companies keep voluminous records because they dont trust
their suppliers, their contractors and their customers. Probably more than half
of all administrative work is only there because of a pervasive sense that
you cant trust anyone these days. If even a small part of such valueless
work could be removed, the savings would run into millions of dollars.

All this extra workplus the work we load onto ourselves because we dont
trust people either. The checking, following through, doing things ourselves
because we dont believe others will do them properly or at all. If you took
all that way, how much extra time would you suddenly find in your day? How
much of your work pressure would disappear?

Im constantly amazed when people claim to be overworked and under

constant pressure, yet fail to do the one thing most likely to ease their
burdens: trust other people more. They dont delegate, because they dont

trust people to do what theyve been asked to do; so they have to take on
every significant task themselves. They attend every meeting, however futile,
because they dont trust others not to talk about them behind their back, or
reach decisions they dont like. They demand copies of every memo, report
and e-mail, because they dont trust what might be said if theyre not
watching. Theyre constantly keyed-up and tense, watching for rivals or other
departments to launch some covert operation to undermine their position. Its
not the pressure of actual work thats driving them towards some stressrelated illness, its their lack of trust in anyone and anything. Is it any wonder
theyre close to total burnout?

Someone has to begin the cycle of trust by an act of faith. Its no use waiting
for the other person to make the first move. Theyre waiting for you. It takes
a conscious act of unconditional belief in that other persons good sense,
ability, honesty or sense of commitment to set the ball rolling. Will your trust
sometimes be misplaced? Of course. Life isnt perfect and some people arent
trustworthy. But will increasing your willingness to trust produce, on balance,
a positive benefit? Will it make your life more pleasant and less stressful? I
believe so. You have little to lose by trying.

Trust has to start somewhere. Why not with you? Why not today? Why not
right now?