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.

Most of our worry is just wasted mental energy that translates into stress and all manner of undesirable consequences.

The next time you catch yourself temporarily gripped with worry, do something constructive to change your state of mind.

Life is too short anyway. Worry will only make it shorter.

Life is too short for little thinking. We can arrange our lives so that we play safe, avoid risk, and minimize exertion.

All we have to do is think small and keep thinking that way.

And since one small thought attracts another, we will hardly realize that life is too short and world is too big to think small.

Resolve as many times as necessary to waste as few heartbeats as possible on such destructive matters.

We are only here for so long, so enjoy your stay.

Life is too short to do otherwise.