Well, hello there. My name is Morgan Harper-Nichols. I'm an artist and a writer, and this is a space where I share words that I hope can make a little room for you to slow down and take a few deep breaths as you prepare for whatever lies ahead. Thanks for being here today. And now on to today's episode. One of the hardest things in life is

finding people you can trust. To trust someone is to give over certainty in exchange for believing.

This person is who they say they are. To be able to trust

someone takes a lot of courage, even something as simple as a trust fall, which is like a team-building

activity where someone intentionally falls backward and then they trust the other members of the group to catch them before

they fall. Even this requires a great degree of vulnerability. Because in a trust fall scenario,

you're literally putting the entire weight of your body in someone else's hands. Trusting someone with what you're feeling can feel

the same way, if not even harder. Even when we've known the person for years, and even if we've been

able to trust them in the past, sometimes the question still arises. Will they still be there to catch me when I need them the most?

When the weight of gravity is about to take me down, can I trust them to be there?

Perhaps there are no easy step-by-step ways to find a way to trust someone. But maybe when you are looking for people you can

trust in your life, you can remember you are allowed to do these three things. Number one, you are

allowed to learn from past relationships and friendships. Learn from your own story.

Learn from the times when someone betrayed you

or exploited your story for their own benefit.

If it was difficult to go through that back then,

you probably don't want your future self going through that either.

So ask yourself, what are the red flags I have learned

to look out for? What makes me uncomfortable that I am no longer willing to tolerate or accept?

Number two, you are allowed to pace yourself in new relationships. Beautiful things take time, including new relationships

and friendships. And a part of knowing that things take time is realizing that if you're getting

to know someone and you don't like the way things are headed, you don't have to stay there just because you've

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