The chain reaction (small daily reflection)

We know that certain actions almost invariably lead to others. If you drop a glass from a height, it will most likely shatter into small pieces and the glass will no longer be recoverable.

Actions lead to an effect, or an expected or more predictable result. And there's nothing wrong with those expectations.

Inside our heads, and with our ideas, we are often led to judge everything with this bias. From our unfounded fears, to our traumas from past situations, or our expectations of someone or something, we make judgments or predicaments.

And how we do it when we have a feeling of distrust. How many of us can really trust something that is on the other side of the river, border, house or street? We often judge others by how similar they are to ourselves. Whether they believe in the same set of values, have the same personal tastes when it comes to clothing, or even our food tastes. All to reduce some of the anxiety we usually feel when we have to make a decision and that decision doesn't entirely depend on us.

But the decision may not depend entirely on us, that's a fact, but it can come from us. Just like chain reactions... One action can lead to another.

And today I took the following quote from Ernest Hemingway as my starting point:

"The best way to know if you can trust a person is to trust them."

Many years ago... maybe more than 20 years ago, I heard one of the brothers presenting the theme for the weekly reflection at one of the retreats I went on in the south of France, in the town of Taizé, and he said that Taizé was like a pilgrimage of trust. And what he meant by that was that trust in others is born first in us. We must be the ones to trust the other. Letting ourselves be known by those around us, and by those who seek to be closer to us.

In a society that is increasingly tied to the virtual, and to minimal contact, sterile, and not very interconnected (in real terms), trust in others is what is really needed. How many of us don't have a deficit of emotional connectivity with others, and therefore feel more isolated in this unbelieving world?

I hope you enjoyed my little reflection today.

Cheers🍀

Free image from Pixabay.com