I can’t read minds, all I can do is trust a person’s words and ask for clarification if I’m unsure of my interpretation.
Evidence of trustworthiness is valuable to recognize.
I don’t have to trust everyone all the time, but it’s unsustainable to never trust anyone.
There are many different levels of trust, a small breach of trust doesn’t negate important ways trust is still upheld.
I trust different people with different things, that’s ok.
Trusting others allows them to better support me, they can’t help if I don’t express myself.
I don’t always have an ulterior motive, so I can’t assume others always do.
Trust is built slowly, I have to start small.
Everyone has an individual life with their own priorities, every choice is not a personal attack.
My past experiences have proven people to be untrustworthy, but my circumstances are always changing and I have to adapt to new proof.
I unconsciously trust lots of people in different ways, even when I think I don’t.
People cannot prove trustworthiness unless I give them a chance to.
My unconscious bias causes me to hyperfixate on perceived signs of trustworthiness without substantial evidence, I can identify and combat these thoughts.
Trust builds relationships, treating people as untrustworthy pushes them away.
I struggle to trust truths about trust, and I’m sick of writing that word so I’ll refer to ‘slight paranoia’. Trauma made me paranoid in insidious ways, experiencing true delusions during manic psychosis caused me to overlook the subtle ways PTSD warped my baseline and depressed perceptions. ‘I’m not paranoid, I know what that feels like, I’m just cautious because I’ve been hurt before.’
Therapists have often called me self aware and eloquent simply because therapists are predictable in my autistic conversation planning, but I’m as aware of myself as in I’m aware of myself. I don’t necessarily know how I work. I’m aware of car engines but I don’t know anything about them.
Trusting affirmations took a long time, primarily because I could always argue with them. ‘I can trust people.’ ‘Why?’ Then my responses are nearly purely informed by trauma. The Socratic method helped me form concise arguments I had trouble denying.
Sustaining Practice 