Others will rely on you when you come through on a daily basis.
Trustworthiness is a noble trait. When others can rely upon us for either counsel, to guard a secret, manage resources, or to be there in a pinch, our relationships are foundationally stronger and more meaningful.
Meditation
Daily Questions
Are you able to open your heart and trust others easily, or are you cynical?
Do past experiences make it impossible for you to trust others who may otherwise be very trustworthy?
Do you trust people too easily? Do you look at a person’s reputation and assess your ability to trust them with reliability?
Are there areas in your life where you can improve so that you may become more trustworthy and relied upon by others?
Do you have a shem tov (a good name)? Does this allow others to trust you? If not, what could you do to improve this?
What characteristics make you trustworthy? Seek to improve on one of those traits.
Do you have anyone who can vouch for your trustworthiness? Does your reputation proceed you and people give you responsibilities frequently? If not, why not?
Featured Articles
Quotables
Merciful God, merciful God, powerful God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness and truth. Preserver of kindness for thousands of generations, forgiver of iniquity, willful sin and error, and Who cleanses. — Exodus 34:6-7
Rabbi Shimon taught: There are three crowns: The crown of Torah, the crown of Priesthood, and the crown of Royalty. The crown of a good name surpasses them all." — Avot 4:17
Shammai taught: "Say little and do much." — Avot 1:15 Rabbi Natan said, “What does this mean? It teaches that the righteous say little and do much, whereas the wicked say much and do not even a little.” — Avot 13:3
"Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of gifts he does not give." —Proverbs 25:14
Nittai, of Arbel, taught: "Keep far from an evil neighbor, be not a partner with an evil person..." — Avot 1:7
"The key is to get to know people and trust them to be who they are. Instead, we trust people to be who we want them to be—and when they’re not, we cry." — Jewish proverb
"Trust, but verify." — Russian proverb
"It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn’t you then first discover how much you really trusted it?" — C.S. Lewis
"The wild things of this earth are not ours to do with as we please. They have been given to us in trust, and we must account for them to the generation which will come after us and audit our accounts." — William T. Hornaday
"Trust is the feeling that makes one man believe in another." — Henry Louis Menchen