No need to spin your stories. You don't have to get involved in any mental arguments. There's no reason to get caught up in any emotion. Just use it as a trigger to be mindful.

By saying this phrase--"I am mindful"--you are actually starting a complex process in your brain. You are creating a powerful link to a visual image, and taking control of what it does for you. You are building a self-fulfilling prophecy--if you notice golden arches, then you are indeed mindful.

Since being mindful is not something you normally associate with McDonald's, it serves as a sort of balancing mechanism. Because only emotion associated with mindfulness is a calm sense of paying attention, you can strip McDonald's of its "good" and "bad" properties and just note it without judgment.

This is what mindfulness is all about. By picking a trigger that is ubiquitous, you are automatically giving yourself plenty of opportunities to include this brief mindful moment in your day.

You will find that you will begin to be mindful every time you see golden arches. That might expand to other images of your choice--the Coca-Cola logo, Disney logo, Starbucks, whatever. Choose something you can't avoid, and take advantage of it.

Take comfort in taking control of your mind. Mmmmmm. I'm lovin' it.

Many of us grew up with parents who did not trust our feelings and perceptions. We might have been told that what we felt and what we experienced was wrong.

Mother: Put on a sweater. It’s cold outside. Child: I’m not cold. Mother: You’re just a child. What do you know? Put on a sweater.

Mother: Go give your Uncle Sam a kiss. Child: No, I don’t like Uncle Sam. He’s creepy. Mother: Of course you like Uncle Sam. Now go give him a kiss.

Child: My teacher is really mean to me. Father: I’m sure your teacher is very nice. If your teacher is mean to you, it must be your fault.

Child: Daddy, why are you angry at me? Father: I’m not angry.

After a while, we learn to discount and mistrust our feelings and perceptions. We learn to give our authority away to our parents and other adults, deciding that others must know more about what we feel, want and perceive than we do. We abandon our inner knowing and stop trusting ourselves.

I have worked with many people who felt deeply betrayed by someone, only to discover in course of our work together than they had betrayed themselves by not listening to themselves. I often hear statements such as:

“I knew when we first met that Frank was lying to me about his money situation, but I didn’t listen to myself. I believed him instead of believing myself, and now I’m stuck with all this debt.”

“I had a feeling that Katherine was having affairs even before we got married but I didn’t listen to myself. The last thing I ever wanted was to be divorced with children.”

We can often feel in our bodies what is true and what is untrue, yet many of us don’t listen to these inner messages. Instead, we put our trust in others and then feel betrayed when others let us down. When we choose to listen to and trust our own inner voice rather than give our power away to others, we will no longer put ourselves in positions to be used and betrayed.

How often have you ignored yourself when something didn’t feel right, only to later discover that you really did know that something wasn’t right? How often have you heard voice of your inner or Higher Self and discounted it, only to regret it later?

Your trust issues with others will be resolved when you become a trustworthy adult with yourself – following through on what you say you will do, and when you learn to trust your inner knowing. It will be harder for others to get away with unloving acts toward you when you learn to trust yourself.