Living in Trust

This week, I welcome Joseph Bennett who made a New Year's resolution to live in trust approximately 9 years ago and has continued to live and believe in that resolution.  His journey has been transformative and he shares this guiding principle with others.  He has since written a book about it hoping to inspire others to be more trusting in the world.  He is an experienced podcaster, author, life coach, hypnotherapist and humanitarian.  Today he shares his inspiring story of what it truly means to live in trust. Enjoy!

Links:

https://www.josephbennett.org

debbiewilliamspodcast.com

Title Music: Bouncy-Spongy by Ketsa,  licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome to storytelling. This week guest made a New Year's resolution, lived in trust approximately nine years ago, and has continued to live and believe in that resolution. His journey has been transformative, and he shares this guiding principle with others. He has since written a book about it, hoping to inspire others to be more trusted in the world. He is an experienced podcaster, author, life coach, fitness therapist, and humanitarian. Today he shares his inspiring story of what it truly means live in trust. Please welcome Joseph Bennett. Hello, Joseph, and welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Good morning, good morning, Debbie. Happy to be here. Thank you for the invitation to show up on your brilliant show. I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Joseph, the subject of trust can be very motive for some people. And I'm quite interested in hearing your story or hearing your journey about when you decided to give trust a try.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Give trust a try. So before we started recording, we were talking about how each of us loves New Year's resolutions and we tend to keep our New Year's resolutions. And one year, about eight or nine years ago, I was looking at my life kind of in reflection and noticing how ingrained worry was, coupled with a little bit of anxiety and some trepidation. And I thought, well, hell, I don't want to bring that into the new year. So what's the opposite of that for me? And what came to mind, came to heart was trust. So I decided that for the new year, I was going to trust with a capital T, like really just dive into it 107%. I would trust that all the right clients would show up. I would trust that I would remain healthy. I would trust my husband. I would trust those I was in a relationship with. Just more or less it's two part as an experiment and also as a decision. Like I would just decide that whenever there was a moment of worry or indecision, that my go-to experience, my go-to decision was going to be, I will trust with a capital T. And I did for the entire year. And what I learned from that was I could just keep going. I could just continue to trust even after that year was over, because it really changed my life in phenomenal and beautiful and very life-affirming ways. So I'm still doing it. All these years later, I'm still showing up with trust as a capital T. And it's been brilliant. So thanks for having me on the podcast. I'm excited to talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

So this is really interesting because some people will argue, but how can you trust politicians because they never tell the truth? How can you trust certain individuals if they're constantly not telling the truth? And what place does that put you in as an individual when you have this mistrust of the world and mistrust of others?

unknown 4:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

It's a huge question, and it's been one that I am not ignorant of. It is very top of mind for me as an author as I go to put this book out into the world. There will be people who come to me either in podcasts or in Facebook Messenger or in book signing and say, but you don't understand, right? This happened to me and this happened to me. Where was the trust in that? So the book, Debbie, is actually a bit of a workbook. So I invite in people to look at the areas in their lives where they have trusted and it's worked out, and let's collect evidence of that. And then the opposite. Let's look at examples of where you have trusted and it hasn't worked out. And let's collect evidence of that. And then let's just bless and release that. So that's actually, I think, chapter two in the book. Let's bless and release that. Because as a human being and as a coach, what I'm excited about is the law of attraction. And the law of attraction says that where our attention goes, energy flows. So what we're thinking about, we're creating. What we are conscious of, that's the life that we are creating. So my invitation is just where are your thoughts? Where's your attention? Where's your energy going? Are you mindfully putting attention on he, she, or it said that, and that's what's showing up in my life? Or can we bless and release that? And starting today, as you're reading this book or as you're listening to this podcast, or as you're creating a decision or a news resolution for yourself, can we look at the other parts of that? Can we look at the possibilities of what it could be like to live in trust with a capital T. This book is not about, you know, everything in your life happens for a reason and everything is showing up perfectly, even though I personally believe that. This isn't that book. This book is let us collect the evidence of what's happened to you in relationship or with a politician or at work. Let's look at it and release it. And maybe if it's possible, I believe it is, but each person has to make their own decision. Is it possible to start with a clean slate today? And I know that's huge. And I know that that feels impossible to some of us because when we've been hurt or when we've had examples of distrust, that gets pretty weighty on us and we and we carry that around with us. And I just know in my own heart of hearts, Debbie, that for your listener, and for you and I, because I know we're, you know, we're all works in progress, but for your listener in our heart of hearts, can we begin to let go of some of that hurt in the past and be open? And I'm sorry to sound like a hallmark card, but that beautiful poem that says, Love like you've never been hurt before.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

For many people, they would have heard the saying, but they don't know maybe how to put that into practice, how to actually not just use the words or say the words, but to actually make that more of an actionable thing. How does one go about doing that?

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Yeah, so you you've already said it. You've all just so brilliantly said it, and that is it's a practice, you know, in the same way that if someone were to come to you or I and say, you know, I'll use a runner's reference because I know how active and fit you are. If somebody were to come and say, Debbie, well, how do I run a marathon? I don't even know, I, you know, I can't even walk around the block. You know, you would invite in a practice, a daily or a weekly or every three-day practice of putting on their sneakers and their tennis shoes and showing up with intention, right? My intention is that I'm eventually going to have more fitness. My intention is I'm eventually going to have a stronger body, a stronger mind. It's the same kind of thing. I'm inviting in. Can we show up to trust, to our relationships, to our connections with our politicians and with our neighbors? Can we show up with trust and just see. See what that can feel like in our body. And eventually, I'm sorry to give the ending away, but eventually what happens at the end of the book is can you trust yourself?

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

So quick story. I was in a breath work class during COVID. So I was here on a Zoom call, and the woman had us laying on the floor and doing our breath work. And the coaching was something like during this session, you will find an answer or you will find a solution. I don't remember what her coaching was, but what came up for me is in the middle of breath work, I realized that T-R-U-S-T in the center of trust is you. So that's the ending of the book, and it's probably mentioned in more than one place, but certainly at the ending, can we trust ourselves? And I think that's the real practice. It's not about the politicians, it's not about the neighbors, it's not about our ex-husband. It's can you trust yourself? And what does that look like? And what does that feel like? And how can you metaphorically put on your sneakers and go out into the world trusting yourself? And that that can be scary and heavy for some of us. Because we are very good at putting our attention on the other. Well, he said this and they said that, and they promised us a new bridge, and they never delivered, you know?

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

What about your relationship with yourself? Are you able to trust yourself? Let's just let's just start there.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

So, Joseph, what have you learned about yourself during that transition when you decided that you were going to live in trust?

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Thanks for the question. What I've learned and what I continue to learn is that it's 1,000% possible. It is 1000% possible to live in trust. And as I look at it, I ask the question, well, are there examples where it didn't work out for me? I'm giving a talk and confidently speaking, and and so I've been working on this idea of trust and you know what I want to say about it. And what I know to be true is that I don't know. Because my New Year's resolution, Debbie, wasn't are there examples where I should distrust? That wasn't what I was looking for. I was looking for examples of where I can trust. So am I living in a bubble? I don't think so. Are people gonna say that I am? I don't care because that wasn't my newest resolution either. My newest resolution wasn't are there examples of distrust and what are people saying about me? My news resolution was trust with a capital T and let's see where that leads. And I've had lots and lots and lots of examples where that has just turned out beautifully. I'm excited for that.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

And I would say that it certainly is going to be liberating for many people to actually let go of a lot of these negative feelings that we have when we when we display distrust.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Yeah. And and I'm willing to be a hundred percent transparent with you that I am married to the brilliant Eli Hans, who is a coach and an actor and a playwright and musician. And he doesn't necessarily live this way all the time, which is perfect because he has his own path and his own journey, but he lives more in a land of what if? He actually just wrote a play called Out of the Blue, and one of the characters is what if, what if, what if, what if? So when he says to me, Well, what if you know the car breaks down, or what if the person doesn't show up and deliver the project? And I just gently remind him, I'm trusting. I'm living in a land of trust. So I know that it might be challenging for your listeners because it's challenging in my own home, but as a practice, as a choice, as a decision, I use that word on purpose. I decided to trust with a capital T, in effect, to see what would show up. And I can only speak for myself, but it has turned out beautifully in a way that I never could have imagined. And what it has done for me is it takes away all of the worry, takes away all the overwhelm and all of the anxiety. Because I'm living in trust. What is there to be anxious about when you're living in trust? Trusting yourself in the center of trust is you.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

I absolutely love that saying, trust in yourself in the center of trust. Brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

And it doesn't happen overnight. It's a practice. It's what might help your listener is to have a trust buddy. To have, you know, we have such things as accountability buddies and workout buddies and things like that. What if you had a trust buddy, somebody that you could call when you said, I don't know, I don't know if this is worker. There's only 17 pounds in my checking account. I don't know about this. And your trust buddy could say to you, trust with a capital T.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

That's the practice.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Joseph, I just want to thank you so much for joining me on this podcast.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

You are so very welcome. It's an honor to be here. And what I'm very cognizant of this morning, Debbie, is that if one person learns to live in trust because of your brilliant podcast or because of me showing up as a guest, then you and I, we've done our job, huh?

SPEAKER_00 14:32

That's brilliant. Thank you. I have been completely inspired by Joseph, and my New Year's resolution has started early to be more trusting in this world. If you would like further information about Joseph and are looking for further inspiration, then please follow the link in the show notes.