A Contemplation on Trust (and Why Teachers Matter)

[An excerpt from our newsletter]

For the longest time, I have been figuring out how to navigate with the concept of Trust. It's another cosmic dance with many partners - How to trust ourselves? How to trust our friends? How about that new business partner? And our mentors? And uuhhh, the Universe? How are you with figuring out this dance so far? I'd love to hear!

As of current, there's one insight that survived my inner contemplations (ie debates with my own brain) and external "research": To deepen trust, we cultivate grounding in our wisdom while staying open to others' perspectives and feedback, and we also can rely on external validations to reflect inward without giving our power away. This insight might keep changing and evolving, and it'd be fascinating regardless.If we look from this angle, there's a simple check in:      Are we giving our power away to others' opinions and validations?      Are we taking others' power away rather than empowering and lifting them up? 

8 billion people on Earth, aaand not everyone’s opinion is meant to guide you. And to be fair, vice versa. As such, if we need others to tell us that we are ok, we have made our happiness someone else’s business. The role of a qualified mentor, guide, or teacher is so important for our journey.  A true teacher is someone who reminds us that the real teacher is sitting inside you the whole time. And by trusting and surrendering to the external teacher, we gradually embody the inner teacher. The qualified teacher can be in the form or formless realm, they can be our family members or beloved communities, a stranger, a tree, a bee, or the Universe itself. Don't get caught up in their appearance or fame. It is their qualities that matters.They can have the sharp discernment and wisdom to see our potentials as well as shortcomings, and be with us without judgement. They can respect our own timeline and readiness - if we like to be comfortable at the bottom of the well, they will let us; but if we are ready to come up for air, they will be there. They can be very skillful in their guidance by acting as a mirror reflecting our hidden patterns. Most importantly, however much they inspire us with their wisdom and compassion, they do not let us rely on them too much to forget ourselves in the process. If you have found such a precious teacher already, I am super happy for you! If you think you haven't and you are ready to meet one, set that intention then. Send it out to cosmos, and be prepared for the ride!