The ultimate universal truth is that we should trust someone that we love. To have a healthy relationship or an overall healthy life, we must take the risk in believing in someone or something. Too often, we mistaken love as being the one thing that conquers all. Sadly, this gives us a false hope and forces us to accept the harsh reality that love is NOT enough. Two individuals may love each other with all their hearts, but they both know that the relationship has been damaged due to the lack of trust. Here are 7 truths to why trust is more valuable than love:
1. Trust is the foundation of love. If you don’t trust a person, how can you love them? Trust precedes love; we can only truly love someone that we can trust. Trust is something that is earned through actions. It is the sense of security that allows both parties to expose themselves fully without any judgments or fears. If someone can break your trust in any way, shape, or form, it isn’t true love.
2. Trust is enough; love is NOT enough. Trust is enough because trust is an attribute of love. Trust enhances love. We can love someone because we once trusted him or her, but as soon as that trust is destroyed, that initial love that was built on trust, isn’t enough.
3. Trust is NOT blind; love is blind. Trust, initially, is an emotional act. We must be vulnerable and trust that someone will accept us and learn to love us. However, once the trust that is built is destroyed, it is based more on a logical and intuitional act. Trust will not blind us from the facts. Love, on the other hand, is blind. Because we are accustomed to trusting someone and thinking he or she will never break our trust, our emotions get the best of us and do not allow us to face the sad truth. The love we have for a person clouds our judgment and instills fear within us; the broken trust allows us to see the harsh reality of the situation and face that fear.
4. No relationship will survive without trust. Trust is the central pillar supporting any real relationship. Building trust in a relationship takes hard work and commitment. Trust requires that we listen and communicate our wants and needs to our partner. Above anything else, trust requires honesty. Once trust is built, it should be maintained throughout. Once that trust is broken, it is almost impossible to go back to the way things were without the doubt and the fear of trust being broken again. A relationship that thrives on lack of trust will infuse uncertainties and insecurities in the relationship, either causing both parties to hate one another or the overall relationship to self-destruct.
5. Trust allows us to believe. Trust not only allows us to believe others, but it allows us to believe in ourselves. We do not believe in ourselves until someone else puts his or her trust in us. If he or she makes us believe that we are capable of doing anything, then we start to believe it ourselves.
6. Trust allows us to love, again. Trust always leads to love. After our trust has been broken, we are more cautious about whom to trust again. Better yet, whom to love again. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t trust anybody. It simply means that we are aware that trusting someone is a risk, and that risk can either create an everlasting love or destroy it.
7. There simply is no ‘us’ without Trust.