Trusting Others

 Have you ever been micro-managed by someone (other than your mother!)? It’s a frustrating feeling when you know that ultimately, the one doing it to you has no trust in your ability to see a task through or to do what you said you’d do. Has that distrust been earned? 

Just as I must be “impeccable in my word”, I owe it to those with whom I interact to trust them to do the same. I’m not talking about those cases where distrust is absolutely necessary, like the unstable former lover who insists he’s changed, or the person who consistently lacks follow-through, leaving others holding the bag. Bill speaks of the “private inventory” which enables us to see clearly, rather than through the fog of wishful thinking and blind optimism. Being realistic is what we’re learning to do with our own motivations and actions, and it carries over to others. 

As I learn to recognize my own defects of character, I remember that it has taken time for me to be able to see them more clearly. Surely the same courtesy can be afforded others. I don’t know where anyone else is on their journey, or to what degree they are able to be honest, first with themselves and then with me. All I can do is take them at their word, do for myself what I am able to do, and let it be.