Trust refers to the willingness of one person to rely on another for emotional support and guidance, as well as for tangible help with personal problems. A person who is trusted is an accepted confidant. Trust is essential in all relationships for them to function well.

The following are ways how to build trust in a relationship

1) Be honest

Honesty is the foundation of trust. A person may not be willing to accept a long-term association with someone with whom he or she does not have confidence in the honesty and truthfulness of one’s statements or actions. Honest should be exercised as early as the day of the relationship begins.

2) Don’t lie

Lying is a negative trait. Even if lies are told to be helpful, they harm individuals who are honest and trustworthy. This includes lying about one’s intentions, feelings, or talents as well as lies about personal matters such as infidelity outside the partner’s knowledge. There is no best way to deal with this issue in relationships except for disclosure of all facts and avoiding them if a situation feels dangerous for the people involved.

3) Give the benefit of the doubt

Listening to one’s partner’s point of view and giving the benefit of the doubt are qualities of someone trustworthy. It also helps in building trust in a relationship if you assume that your partner is honest until proven otherwise instead of thinking that he or she is dishonest until proven otherwise.

4) Avoid blaming and name-calling

Blaming and name-calling are signs of distrust in a relationship. Giving blames to your partner can be dangerous in building trust because it will drive him or her away from you. Name-calling has a similar effect in destroying the bond between people. Always avoid this because it can ruin a relationship when you are down.

5) Accept change

Accepting changes in relationships is important. It makes the relationship more dynamic and stable if one person accepts the other’s ways of doing things as well as his or her feelings and emotions. The problem with this is that people who are defensive and stubborn won’t accept these changes even if they are trying to make them in the relationship.

6) Be consistent

Being consistent in any relationship is important to build trust. This also means that an individual must be loyal and dependable when he or she promised to do something. For example, if partners make plans for a certain day, the person who makes the promise must follow through with it despite possible changes in his or her schedule.

7) Admit mistakes

Admitting mistakes is a sign of the ability to learn from them and grow in the relationship. Being able to accept that you did something wrong, however small it may be, is an important quality in building trust in a relationship.

8) Be forgiving

Being forgiving of one another’s faults, mistakes, shortcomings, and bad deeds will bring out the best in both people. It also requires that one person forgives the other even if the latter is not asking for forgiveness. If not, then you are building distrust in your relationship. However, some people resort to victimization when they feel that they are being wronged, which is not productive.

9) Seek solutions to issues

If you can’t control someone’s actions, then do not let them hurt you in any way. Instead, seek resolutions to the problems and try your best to find a solution for each of the issues. This is something that healthy and strong relationships seek after. You may not always be able to get a favorable outcome, but you must not let this bother you. It is better to have a relationship with someone who can tolerate and deal with all issues calmly instead of a relationship that is full of fights and arguments.

10) Show your feeling

This is the most important quality that you should be displayed in a healthy and strong relationship. Being able to express your feelings is one of the most important things in building trust. A person who can talk about how he or she feels can do this because it shows them as understanding, sympathetic and caring people.

11) Don’t bring your past relationships forward

As an individual, you have your past relationships, which may be positive or negative. Nevertheless, while establishing a new relationship you mustn’t involve your past issues with others. If you do so, then you will be creating distrust in the new relationship and jeopardizing the chances of success. This is because if you are trying to do things in your previous relationships with the new partner then this signals that some problems inside you are not letting you build trust and maintain healthy relationships.

12) Keep the lines of communication open

Keeping the lines of communication open at all times between both you and your partner is important. If a relationship involves good communication, then it is successful. Good communicators should also be non-judgmental and should never reject or interrupt their partners because this builds up mistrust in relationships.

13) Don’t take small issues seriously

In a relationship, it is important to be flexible when it comes to taking in small issues. This is because most of the time these issues are either minor or temporary, which means that they are not worthy of your time and energy. Instead of arguing over such matters, you should find more important things in life to do with the time you have together with your partner.

14) Respect each other’s privacy

Respecting your partner’s privacy is important in building trust. This also means that should you have any personal issues, you should not bring them up to him or her if they are not directly related to the relationship or if you are trying to sabotage it. If you do so, then this will create mistrust in the relationship and cause it to fail.

Conclusion

Building trust in a relationship is something that takes time and effort. It is not something that is attained by spending a few days or nights with your partner. It involves a lot of other things as well, like being loyal, consistent, and forgiving of one another’s faults and mistakes. The important thing to remember is that if you are building trust in a relationship then you are moving in the right direction for success. On the other hand, if you have created distrust then you must take the necessary steps to fix this problem before it is too late.