Essential.

“I don’t trust people who don’t love themselves and tell me, ‘I love you.’ … There is an African saying which is: Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.” ~ Maya Angelou; writer, poet, and civil rights activist.

“Most good relationships are built on mutual trust and respect.” ~ Mona Sutphen; Foreign Affairs Officer, consultant, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff.

Trust is the emotional connection in any relationship, being romantic, friendship, co-workers, or any other sort; and trust increases love and peace in the mind, thus creating a deeper understanding of the foundation of any committed and sincere relationship.

But trust must be earned also, it does not matter who you are, or who the other person is, and it does not matter the story in the relationship; and it must be displayed in behaviors and honest and open communication with one another, it must increase harmony and divine union–one must feel at ease and understood by the other, and vice versa.

And as with all serious interactions in the wide human spectrum, trust always must be founded on self-love, because if you love yourself, you trust yourself; and so, now you can carry this personal experience onto the outside relationships with another, you can truly give trust, and also recognize trust in the other person.

But you must be able to live and trust in the present moment, for the only true happiness you can fully experience is in the present moment, not in past memories or in future ones.

This is to say, that you cannot fully trust and be trusted only by what has been said or done in the past, or by what has been solely promised for the future, but you must watch the behaviors of the present and also listen to the words and thoughts being expound in the present.