“You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you don’t trust enough.” -Frank Crane
Having been brought up in South Africa as a Black second class citizen I have always been distrustful. South Africa was generally a corrupt society. You could get almost anything by greasing the right palms. Doing the right thing didn’t always get you places.
So I guess I have been guilty of instinctively mistrusting people and their motivation, and projecting past experiences onto them before they have even had a chance to show their good intentions.
This meant that I regarded people as being guilty until proven innocent.
It just plain hurts to suspect everyone. It hurts to hold onto past disappointments, as if it’s only a matter of time until other people let you down. That’s not to say we shouldn’t trust our instincts when we suspect we’re in harm’s way. But the world is a far more peaceful place when you believe in people.
Today if you mistrust someone, remember: You tend to find what you’re looking for. Are you more invested in finding reasons to doubt or reasons to believe? Some extracts taken from Lori Deschene.