An eagle perched herself on the edge of a cliff watching her little ones struggle to hop towards her. She urged them to come closer to the edge; yet most were reluctant. However, one eaglet, scrawny and with a broken foot, moved closer to her and when the little one reached its mother's grasp, the mother pushed it over the cliff and it flew. Many years later, the eaglet, now fully grown, reminisced about its mother and said, “I flew without falling because I had faith in my mother.” Such is faith; when you have it, it never fails you.
Trust and faith are two sides of the same coin. If you trust, faith follows; if you have faith, trust ensues.
Yet, before you begin to have faith in another person or trust someone, you must have faith and trust in yourself. When we generate trust in ourselves and believe we have 'positive intent’, faith is demonstrated in all that we do. Sadly, many of us say ‘I trust you, I have faith in you’, yet rarely do we tell ourselves ‘I trust myself’. When I do not trust myself, when I doubt myself, I doubt others. Charity begins at home, it is said, which means charity begins with me being charitable to myself and not others. So also, if we have to have faith and trust in another person, we must have faith and trust in ourselves.
Remember that we always, at the core of our being, have positive intent. Yet when this intent is corrupted by fear, or misplaced unhealthy anger and deprivation, it manifests itself in the form of manipulation and violence.
If we, therefore, revisit our “true intent”, our “positive core”, prompted by self-belief, trust and faith in ourselves, we become authentic. Authenticity begets the same from others.
Finally, trust and faith can only be nurtured in ourselves and thereafter, in others by being honest with ourselves and genuine in whatever we say and do.
(The writer is an organisational and behavioural consultant. He can be contacted at ttsrinath@vsnl.net)
