How to Restore Your Trust in Humanity

2024 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 09:13

We are all born receptive to love, kindness and hope. Growing up, we encounter the less hopeful and more complex aspects of the human being, including discovering that sometimes human gestures can be full of hatred, calculation and rudeness. Although this fact can make us cynical or make us feel helpless, human beings are still capable of the most incredible, extraordinary and wonderful kindness and love. And in addition to the heroic and fearless acts we occasionally read in the newspapers, it is indeed the often overlooked actions of deep kindness and compassion that restore our faith in humanity every day - daily courtesies like loving words, a reassuring hug, an outstretched hand in moments. of difficulty and the unconditional acceptance of our worth by a perfect stranger. If you are feeling a little fed up with the direction humanity has taken, here are some good suggestions to regain that confidence.

Steps

Step 1. Spend time helping those less fortunate than you

Reality can burst into your life seeing people dealing with things 10, 100 times more serious than what you are going through and yet they manage to live every day with passion and positivity, convinced that being alive is the worthy reward. Rather than simply reading about these people, volunteer so you can see for yourself the adversity of others. For example, you might try volunteering at a hospice, a hospital for terminally ill children, or a tent city for people who have lost their homes and livelihoods. As bad as things may seem to you, seeing the courage and determination of those experiencing severe hardships can help you point out the extraordinaryness, resilience and depth of human beings. It can also help you weigh your sorrows and keep them in perspective.

Step 2. Ask people to tell you about the happiest moments of their life

How often do you ask them and what makes them happy now? People love to talk about the things they care about, what motivates them and makes them happy and yet it's not always something that is talked about in a general conversation. It is very important to give people a chance to open up about their happy moments - it helps them express in front of an audience what matters most to them (and could thus inspire them even more) and will help you see the lighter side. bright and happy of the people in your life.

• Read public gratitude journals online (search for “online gratitude journals”). Reading how other people find gratitude in everyday things can inspire you to feel more grateful in general and to see how many, many people genuinely care about the beauty and awe of this world and those who live in it.

  

Step 3. Think about the things people do that you are deeply grateful for

If you start looking for reasons to be grateful, chances are you will find them in the daily actions of others. For example, the driver who kindly lets you into the aisle instead of speeding up, the customer who lets you take his seat in the queue because you have the empty cart than his, the candidate colleague who helps you fill out a form that you find a lot difficult or the stranger who notices your tears in public and gently asks you what's wrong. Then there are the opportunities for incredible heroism, like when someone saves you from a car accident, dives to save your drowning child or runs into your burning house and saves your pets. Whether the actions are small or large, notice what others do for you and celebrate the fruits of human kindness. Silent courtesies happen every day, they could be called "people who do nothing but their duty" or really be seen as the attitudes of compassion and connection that they are.

Step 4. Focus on stories of good news, stories of great kindness, and virtuous deeds

There is a multitude of positive, inspirational and motivational stories about what good is done every day. Still, much of this good news is drowned in the sensational, negative coverage that the news seems to favor. Nonetheless, you can actively choose to increase your exposure to positive news. For example, you can subscribe to online updates that focus solely on positive stories. And you can selectively follow friends and fans on social networks who explicitly choose to share good news rather than bad news and who share motivational material on a daily basis.

• Take a look at sites like Buone Notizie Corriere, Happy News (in English), Buonenotizie.it or Il Giornale delle Buone Notizie. This kind of site focuses on positive news and brings together many kind, compassionate and warm stories about the good deeds of human beings (for more sites of this type, search for "good news" on Google - the ones selected here are just examples).

  

• Celebrate those moving moments in which people do something incredible, such as giving up a victory to help an injured fellow athlete, saving a pet trapped in a fire, shaking hands with the enemy during a thaw of hostilities, etc. By celebrating and sharing the stories, images and creative works that emerge around heroic and generous acts of human care and love, you take part in the spread and dignity of good, kind and compassionate deeds.

  

• Consult your favorite volunteer organizations online and read concretely what staff and volunteers do. Whether it's the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, a local zoo seeking to protect animals or a religious charity, inquiring about their activities will remind you that people are actively engaged in helping others, protecting the environment, restoring land, care for animal welfare and press on rulers to bring about changes that improve lives and livelihoods.
• Search your bookstore or library for amazing stories about entrepreneurs who are transforming society while running businesses. Similar companies are changing the way people "do industry" and see the world, in areas that include the exchange of information, the creation of games that educate as well as entertain, fair trade or controlled products, the production of 'green objects and financial projects that help people obtain loans or invest in small projects that many in small communities will benefit from. Social entrepreneurs focus a lot on ensuring that their business has a positive influence on the world.
• List the people who inspire you. Save bookmarks on your browser and start recording the people who inspire you with their actions. Check regularly for the updates they post as they progress in their endeavors. And also add those who are no longer with us - past efforts have the same value, as they have brought human society to its present state.

Step 5. Spend time with the children

By not dealing with children regularly, you are missing out on the wonders of seeing the world through new, curious and creative eyes. Children are less prone to voluntary blindness or an inability to see injustices and problems. Children can go beyond the layers of obfuscation used by adults to justify stupid decisions, procrastination and passivity. Children also don't mind showing a sense of bewilderment about the world around them, constantly busy with new discoveries and extraordinary new connections - between ideas, people and the whole world. Only by being in contact with children more often, and listening to them and really paying attention to their actions, can you begin to unwind from your rigid shell of cynicism and allow yourself to become more childish, playful and creative.

Recognize in the time spent with children that we are all born as blank canvases, not to cause suffering or trouble for others. Having a distorted view of human beings as cruel, evil and selfishly inclined only to what is best for themselves is both useless and generally false. Mahatma Gandhi summed it up excellently by declaring: "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean get dirty, the ocean does not become dirty ". While cruel and negative things happen every day, it also holds true for many gestures of joy and kindness

Step 6. Encourage trust in your fellow man with your actions

Try to see the world in a less confident and less demanding way. And follow Gandhi's famous phrase “Be the change you would like to see in the world”. When you formulate the kind of change you would like to see spread, you give off virtuous sparks that, while they may not directly affect you, advance for the benefit of others, thus continually improving the community you are a part of. Ultimately, trust in humanity is not based on what you get in return - it is about making life a little better, a little easier and a little more liveable for everyone you interact with.

• Trust more. For example, you could take someone at your word who says they will pay you for something they borrowed or bought from you. You could lend your tools or DVDs to a neighbor or friend without specifying how long, trusting that the items will be returned in due time. You may have worried in the past about where your donations to charities go, or how the homeless man you begged for will spend that money, going to buy a beer instead of providing a place to sleep that night., leading you to no longer donate anything. Instead of imposing your will, just give. Have faith in the path your donation will take. Sometimes people will make the wrong choice through you, but overall, you're much more likely to be surprised at how people positively repay your trust in them, reciprocate trust with trust - and gratitude. Increasing this extension of trust in others can be very scary at first, especially if you have been very attached to things / money, but once you reach this stage, you will have traveled a long way in your recovery of trust in humanity..

  

• Perform random acts of kindness, such as leaving a suspended coffee, throwing out the trash after eating at a fast food restaurant, helping a mother to get on a tram with a stroller …

  

• Pass the favor. Instead of asking for your good deed to be repaid in any way, ask for the return favor to be "passed" to someone else in need. For example, you may be able to afford to help a student take a course that they might not otherwise be able to afford. In turn, ask that student to do the same in the future for another student unable to afford a course.

• Be compassionate. Although the intrinsic goodness of every single human being you meet may not always be evident, it is the compassion that allows you to dig under the surface of the sufferings, pains and diseases of your human brothers. Dig deeper, you'll often find out what causes or causes rude, ruthless, and disrespectful behavior. It is through seeking a greater understanding of the causes of human behavior that you can identify yourself and learn to tolerate. It is through forgiving those who behave badly that you learn to stop hurting them and give them the gift of freedom to heal from pain and fear and to do their best.

  

• Find as many ways as possible to collaborate and cooperate with other humans. Reduce conflict and competition by encouraging and facilitating collaborative ways to get things done - at work, at home, at school or college, at the park, wherever you may be.

  

• Make room for others, even when you don't know them. When traffic is heavy or the queue is long, let others pass. They are human too, they feel the same things you do, and what a wonderful surprise to find that someone else cares about them. Your concern will echo as those you let pass do the same to others in the future. And so on.

• Tell stories of human goodness to other people you know, to inspire them too to see the good in humanity. Once you understand the search for stories about humanity, share your experience with others to help them inspire their own good deeds and ideas. If you have a blog or a profile on a social network, share more uplifting and positive stories. What can you do now, today, to convey the stories that show people's good will, their acts of heroism and human virtues?

  

Step 7. Remember that you too are part of humanity

The world you dream of will not manifest itself by distancing yourself from other humans or constantly denigrating them.

• Gain your self-confidence. If you feel that a large part of humanity is hopeless or superficial, the problem may be within you. Henry Miller once said "The man who is always upset by the condition of humanity either has no problems of his own or has refused to face them." If you have had a difficult life, stop being hard on yourself. Learn to forgive yourself and believe more in yourself. Get out of your lair and discover new things, push yourself beyond the ones you are so worried about failing. Be brave - the world deserves your talents.

  

• If you prefer despair to hope or complaint to action, then you will find negativity everywhere you look. On the other hand, you can choose to trust humanity, in many of the ways described above. Furthermore, you can choose to be kind as a stand against injustice, violence, waste and hunger in the world. You may feel helpless towards what sometimes seems terrible but you are not. Kindness is a silent and discreet legitimation of each individual; through kindness, you affirm the kind of world you want to be a part of.

  

Step 8. Done

Advice

• Be very careful not to confuse dysfunctional social systems with the inner essence of human beings or human values. Systems and institutions can become time-bound and difficult to handle. While some people may be selfishly pursuing their own goals, many others are simply trying to "do the right thing", even without thinking about it. External eyes are often needed to indicate what is no longer working and over time, the growing drive for change usually manages to crumble the caryatids so that fresh new ways can take over. This in turn can free everyone from having to "go through the stages" of supporting something no more useful to society than in the past.
• If you were interested in quantifying the impact of each act of kindness and appreciation, you could try exploring the Newton Project, a non-profit project that proposes to give a bracelet to those who have had a major impact on our lives and so on. with the possibility of tracing the positive effect triggered by your gesture. To learn more (in English):

Warnings

• “Trust more” doesn't mean you should openly trust anyone. The betrayal of trust immediately can lead to losing even MORE trust in humanity.
• Clinging to limited and biased viewpoints might seem like a safe haven or location in difficult times but ultimately leads you to atrophy as the world around you continues to change, paradoxically making your personal world a little less safe than it would be by exposing yourself. and interacting with people who don't necessarily think like you.
• Self-centered, violent, and biased worldviews cloud our ability to see other humans with kindness.