Trust

Isn't it funny how the teachings we receive seem to circle back around? Mine are currently circling back around to trust. Each time I am led to this topic, I spiral a little deeper into it.

Teachings about trust began coming back in this spring, as the flowers started to bloom. It occurred to me that we have tremendous trust in the seasons changing. I can look at a field covered with snow and know that in a few months, it will be covered with flowers. I can look at trees bursting with green leaves and know that those leaves will change color and fall, and the branches will be bare. I know that when the branches are bare, then I can see the full moon through my bedroom window. I know all of these things from experience, yes, but they still require trust.

It makes me consider where else I place my trust. I know that there is spiritual support at my back. I know that life teaches me what I need to be taught. I know that I can trust. Are any of these things certain? I don't think so. Still, I trust in them. There is a tremendous amount of trust required in this work. Sometimes it wavers--for all of us, we are human. It takes work to allow trust to deepen. And trust is a choice, one we have to make to walk this particular road.

I talk, as my teachers did, about how shamanism is not about belief but about knowing. Trust is knowing. I know what I know from my own experience. I had to have some trust in order to gain that experience, yes, but I find that the trust deepens enough that it becomes a new thing, takes on a new meaning. And so my own spirits are circling back around to trust, teaching me new things about it. As sure as the seasons cycle, so do the teachings.

Check in with yourself--how deep is your trust? Don't judge it, but notice it. Where is your trust placed? Where is it lacking? Where would you like it to deepen? Just notice. Life has a way of taking us where we need to go.