A guide about self-trust for empaths, sensitives and for anyone struggling to trust their inner truth.
Learn why lack of self-trust is such a common problem today even in those with strong inner knowing, great intuition and high levels of self-awareness such as Empaths and Highly Sensitive People.
What Is Self-Trust?
Self-trust is a strong confidence in yourself; your own inner guidance, your integrity and capability to deal with outcomes without a need from validation from other people.
It does not mean that you never doubt yourself, it does not mean that you think you will always be right and successful with everything in your life. And it does not mean that you never go to others for advice, listen to other people’s opinions or wisdom.
But that you generally trust in yourself to make mostly healthy decisions.
7 Things That Corrode Self-Trust
Gaslighting And Reality Distortion
Finding yourself in situations or relationships where you’re reality, your experiences are dismissed corrodes self trust. Gaslighting is a very cruel forms of manipulation and abuse consciously or unconsciously causes the victim to question their own reality, doubt real experiences.
Seen in narcissistic relationships, medical gaslighting and societal gaslighting. We just need to look at the amount of gaslighting that goes on in mainstream media, politics and even in social media today.
Controlling And High Pressure Environments
Authoritarian or controlling parents, strict households, workplaces with fear-based leadership or dominating partners where there is excess control or high pressure. Where the very environment makes the person feel disempowered, corrodes self-trust from a very young age.
Family Conditioning And Childhood Roles
Conditioning and inner child wounding that creates roles such as being the emotional caretaker, the rescuer or fixer, the peacekeeper…Roles that train us to perform instead of authentically express, diminishes self-trust.
Societal Expectations And Social Norms
The tribal or community mentality that creates sheep, than sheepdogs. That teaches us to believe certain things, act and behave in certain ways that are not always healthy or true. Such as listen to what you’re told, we always know best, don’t upset anyone, keep the peace…This mentality and culture can very much teach people to silence their intuition, dampen down their critical thinking, lose or never develop self-trust.
Moral And Religious Dogma
Manmade religion or even cult dogma that creates distortion in self-worth, self-value and disconnection with your own inner wisdom and own light. For example where control, fear, trauma, self-sacrifice, obedience and suffering creates internal conflict and self-doubt, disconnects you from your own sovereignty and light.
Nervous System Overwhelm And Trauma Responses
When the body doesn’t feel safe, self-trust collapses that is why nervous system dysregulation, traumatic experiences or retraumatising events such as abuse and gaslighting causes one to become more disconnected from oneself. We see this in fawning, freezing, chronic self-abandonment, hypervigilance and disassociation.
Boundary Erosion And Empath Enmeshment
Where there is lack of boundaries, one takes on responsibility for other people’s emotions, absorbs other people’s moods or physical pain, confuses empathy with obligation or rescuing and loses sense of self in relationships. All common patterns in empaths. Even though empaths are highly sensitive and have naturally strong intuition. Their inner knowing, self-trust is easily over ridden or distorted by the energies of the people around them.
7 Things That Build Self-Trust
Grounded And Centred
It may sound a bit woo-woo but the more grounded and centred you are in your own body, your own heart, soul and energy field it is far easier to full embody your own inner guidance and truth.
Deeper Spiritual And Soul Connection
The strong connection you have to yourself, your own soul power, spirit, god, the universe. The easier it is to trust yourself, trust your inner guidance and the guidance you have been given. Than give your power and authority over to someone else.
Develop Your Intuition
Build as much confidence as you can in your inner knowing, your intuition. Develop those intuitive muscles by using different intuitive skills and tools that help you master your intuition.
Heal Your Trauma
Work on healing your trauma, the emotional wounds that leak your energy and power. Heal the self-sabotaging identities and roles that keep you stuck in unhealthy patterns and distorted relationships.
Support And Heal Your Nervous System
Do what you can to nurture, soothe and heal your nervous system. So many things can trigger or keep us in nervous system dysregulation such as mental and emotional stressors, toxins and toxic environments, postural and alignment issues. Remove yourself as much as you can from the triggers and support yourself with the soothers such as meditation, relaxation therapy, grounding and relaxing essential oils, supportive remedies, clean diet, mould-free and toxin free environments.
Develop Healthy Critical Thinking Skills
Now more than ever it is important to develop objective thinking and critical thinking skills in a world that is constantly trying to control, distort and manipulate us from our own inner compass. The sheep follows the masses, the sheep dog leads the flock out of danger. Fear and anxiety makes people more easily manipulated so do what you can to feel calm and clear-headed.
Strong Healthy Boundaries
Healthy boundaries are a must, start with energetic boundaries between you and the world around you. You cannot hold your own sovereignty, you cannot access your own inner knowing, have strong self-trust if you are energetically letting everyone and anything into your field. That is why good energetic hygiene is so important for empaths, healers and practitioners who are more likely to pick up others fears, pain or even projections.
My Own Challenges Around Self-Trust
We all have challenges in our life that can impact self-trust I spent a large part of my life suffering from all sorts of medical gaslighting that corroded my ability to trust my own body, know my own body.
Even though somewhere inside there was a voice whispering and sometimes shouting, on my journey to find out the truth and seek solutions. Constant gaslighting from medical practitioners, healers and therapists created massive self-trust and self-worth issues.
Trust your inner voice, trust what your body is telling, we live in a world where we have to remember how to listen and trust ourselves. And stop giving so much power to the world out there.
