Trust Is a Spiritual Attitude
By Ava Irani
As a woman, I find trust as a daily practice is the most powerful catalyst for transformation, insight, and purification of my limited ego structure. In general, I feel one of the strongest spiritual places a human can step into is the capacity to trust and find a space where we can meet vulnerability with joy.
Trust is deep. To truly trust is to be willingly susceptible. We are all, always, susceptible to what will happen next. In fact, the great human discontent is that we can’t personally control outcomes. Being willingly susceptible is an inner attitude and an approach in the present moment. It is a divine act that is more than a mere letting go, but a deliberate openness to potentiality. Pain, victory, abuse, and/or death are all indeed waiting on the other side of this moment.
Trust is a spiritual attitude. Here we don’t use the word “spiritual” to connote spirits or higher levels of vibrations. Spiritual refers here to the “Self” or the One Witness Consciousness behind all eyes and experiences. What we really are as our transcendent nature. So how does trust relate to spirituality? It is an act of affirming that I am not just this experience. I am not just this body that may get hurt. I am not the emotions, lifestyle, or carefully constructed relationships or careers. Trust implies I am in no danger because I am none of these. It is a doorway to the higher self—the background of Stillness.
When we bring in an attitude of trust (which is similar to letting go) we allow ourselves to embrace the spontaneity of the moment. We open to Lakshmi, or the universal energy of abundance, we open to God and the background of love. When we bring trust into our relationships, we give others room to grow and meet us in this realm of spontaneity, openness, and abundance—the Spiritual Heart.
Trust can be hard. It is unlimited and challenges our individual limitations. However, it is the beautiful means and the end, so there is no harm done by inviting this energy into our meditation practice as well as our lives and our relationships. Remember, trust is not a means to guarantee results, it is an invitation to move beyond results. It wouldn’t be called trust if the results were guaranteed.
Ava is a Hridaya Yoga teacher and the founder of Spanda School in Perth, Australia
