What Am I Trusting?

Have you ever looked back on a difficult period of your life, and realized that something within you had quietly changed?

Not while the challenge was unfolding. Not while you were struggling to make a difficult decision. But afterward.

Looking into the rearview mirror of the mind, you recognized that you had responded differently than you once would have. You were a little more patient. A little less fearful. A little less driven by habit. A little more certain about what to do, and what not to do.

And in that quiet, contemplative moment, something remarkable became clear. You discover that trust rarely appears at the beginning of our journey.

It appears afterward––like dawn.

Most of us assume that confidence comes first—that we must somehow become certain before we can make wise choices. Yet our experience often teaches us just the opposite.

Newborn confidence is rarely the cause. More often, it is the result.

Life and relationships continually present us with opportunities to discover what deserves our trust.

When we respond habitually, we usually repeat our familiar patterns––and experience familiar results. But when we pause, observe carefully, and then choose what is truly beneficial rather than merely comfortable, something begins to change.

At first, the change is almost imperceptible.

One difficult conversation ends more peacefully than expected. One disappointment teaches us patience rather than resentment. One challenge reveals a quiet strength we did not know we possessed.

Each sincere experiment leaves a subtle impression upon the mind. And slowly, slowly we begin to recognize that serving the quiet wisdom already waiting within us, consistently leads to greater health, happiness, and freedom than serving what merely satisfies our personality’s immediate likes and dislikes.

Then one day, unexpectedly, we look back and realize that something about us has changed. Our automatic reactions no longer govern us as they once did. Old habits have begun to loosen their grip. The same situations that once disturbed us, now become opportunities to learn, to serve, and to grow.

This recognition gives birth to something precious.

Not borrowed belief. Not blind faith. Not confidence rooted in an insecure ego. Rather, a quiet confidence born of personal experience. A brilliance of confidence that no one can give us, and no one can take away from us.

That trust arises naturally, because we have repeatedly verified, through our own observation and experimentation, what leads toward genuine happiness and fulfillment.

This is one of the great gifts of Yoga Science. It does not ask us to believe. It invites us to experiment.

And our sincere experimentation gradually transforms uncertainty into understanding, understanding into trust, and trust into a quiet confidence that continues to deepen throughout life.

Before this day is over, life will once again bring you a relationship that asks something of you.