Unearthing Trust

Deadly workplace shootings, natural disasters with massive human suffering, food contamination scares making people gravely ill, shark attacks—once rare and nearly unheard, all of these events are now pretty commonplace for most of us. All the while we also find ourselves wondering which public leaders are truly fit to serve us, and who can we trust to lead our country and our communities.

I don’t know about you, but I find this to be a lot to think about. I also find that all of this leads me to think about the concept of trust, and how very fundamentally important it is to individual wellbeing.

We, both as individuals and as communities and as a nation are suffering the effects living with a general lack of trust, and more so with a more global loss of trust in our business relationships, our governing bodies, our financial, religious and other global institutions and even our personal relationships. Of course some of my previous blogs have addressed the diminishing lack of trust workers have for their employers. Workplace trust has long been an issue in need of addressing.

The issues confronting the world are monumental. Meanwhile the chasm between words/actions and deeds is widening.

So what is the answer to all of this?

The answer has to lie within each one of us. Perhaps if we each take responsibility for trust, we can get to the important task of identifying some much needed solutions.

We need to spend time unearthing who we are. All too often I've noticed that a disconnect exists between who people believe they are, and how they actually behave. People are running as fast as they can to keep up with life, and they don't realize they are losing their soul in the process. Can they truly trust who they are? Taking the time to slow down and reflect on our own behavior is essential. We need to account for our own actions and begin to develop a trusting outlook for ourselves. We need to then bring this attitude and associated behaviors into our relationships and into our workplace.

Individually, we need to do our part in addressing the issues before us. If we all do our own little (or big!) part, perhaps we can once again trust in ourselves, trust in others, trust in our institutions and governing bodies and finally ignite the spirit of the American Dream.