How Can you Sincerely Trust Someone Who Has Deceived You?

I am old school when it comes to this because I am very apprehensive about people to begin with.
So if someone tries to be deceptive I automatically start thinking they are dishonest about other things and will just repeat the pattern over and over.

But, these days I am learning to forgive and forget… at the very least for my own sanity!!

For starters, I have trust issues. I will not easily give someone my trust so if I do then the more that I would take offense if that person lie or deceive me in any way. That’s a glaring red light in my book.

True. I agree its really how you analyze and accept what others might say or do. Maybe they do have their reasons why they lie or what not, but then again its still my call if I am to believe and accept.

I think it all boils down to someone’s willingness to forgive the person who had deceived them and just forget about it, I reckon thats the only way for someone to sincerely trust that other person again. Just my 2 cents…

Its hard to trust someone again after a deceiption. I don’t know, its just feels something had been broken and it won’t be whole again no matter what I do or think. That’s just me, to each his own.

My answer would be no. No because its just isn’t the same anymore, I see your point though that its all in the way I process it in my mind. But, I know if ever I would forgive someone’s deceipt deep in my subconcious it would still be lurking.

Sorry i have a long take on this one lol.

I think it depends on the nature of the relationship you have with the person and how much of yourself you give to them that can be hurt by a deception. Many of us keep casual relationships with people out of necessity (have to get along with coworkers, may not always trust them), or courtesy (in-laws, friends of friends). In these relationships you may be more in control of how much of yourself (secrets, feelings, trust) you give this person, based on your judgement of their character. If they seem the type that should not be trusted, you can choose to still maintain a courteous relationship with them but not deep enough where a deception will affect you. However this can be a grounds for which you decide not to form a closer relationship with this person. If you have already established a closer relationship with this person and a deception occurs, then i would look at the circumstances.

Sometimes in bad situations we do not act our best selves, for whatever reasons. This deception could be out of character, or due to something that the person feels is out of their control. In these instances you must decide if the deception was harmless enough where you can let it go, or a sign that your friend or whoever may be in a situation out of their control. (this can occur if lets say, your friend is in an abusive relationship and chooses to push you away because they may be blinded by “love”. I have seen this happen. Someone is deceived by a friend who would lie about not being available or about canceling times where they were to see each other. Come to find out this person was afraid their partner would become jealous of their time spent together.) In this situation, can you say this person is deceptive? or just that they are in a negative situation that is making them act uncharacteristic of themselves?

Then there are times when you are downright blind-sided by someone you thought you knew or trusted. This person appears to be a trusted confidant or friend. You geniunely believe you can trust this person. Then they deceive you somehow. Again if you look at their circumstances and cannot see a justifiable reason why they lied to you or betrayed your trust, then i would ask myself if having such a person in my life worth the risk of betrayal? Is it someone whom i care for and want to look out for despite the risk that they may again deceive me? is there a way i can be in their lives and not put myself in such risk? Is it worth it? Or should i distance myself from this person and hope that they come around and regain my trust? And if they deceive me in such a way that it harms me greatly, can i forgive them? I think i could, but depending on the situation, it may take time…..if a relationship with someone, be it a friendship, a lover, or a sibling, is meant to last, then i believe that it will heal itself over time. …….thats my long winded take on it 🙂

I will admit that many years ago my wife cheated on me! My family was all up in arms when I took her back. I am not saying that trust is something that instantly reappeared in our relationship but it creeped back in. We now have built a very trusting relationship. Forgiving is important but I think that forgetting is impossible. You have to leave it in the past and move forward from that point.

i think the buck stops when your personal security and well being is endangered, one must protect themselves, because you can not ever trust other people to have your best intrest at heart

Deception by one that you open your heart to fully can be a major shock & extremely traumatic. There are many ways to approach your healing after such an experience. Looking at the other person’s life challenges physically, mentally, emotionally & spiritually but it’s a process of self healing really when you have an experience such as this. You can do nothing about the other person’s behaviors. I personally have found that it is your own heart that must be taken care of first. Then you can gain another perspective that may help you to to bring balance between the two of you. For me this is most important as you don’t want to carry around the trauma within your day to day life. Only then you can decide if you should have some boundaries in place with this person and how much you will trust again. First and foremost it is Creator, then Creator within yourself, Then Creator within the other. They may or may not have the same standards but you have set yourself free & you can use this experience to help others, sometimes even the perpetrator themselves if called upon to do so.

I was reading some of the things people had to say i was with this guy for 7 years off and on and we still live together until he can find a place our relationship ended only like a couple weeks ago. This is the only guy that i truly put all my heart and trust in . We have our fights he would blame me of being loud,rude,angry,bitch we would always do the same thing over and over he would go to work and my daughter would be in school so i would be home alone i couldnt wait for them to get home so he would come home give me a kiss jump in the shower he would be on the love seat and i would be one the other side of the room on the couch with little to no comunnication we would watch tv i would cook dinner and watch tv till 9pm then i would go to bed to give him his alone time to play on his game on line i was jealous over his game because talks to the people on line for hours but couldnt give me a few mins. Come to find out when i was in bed sleeping he was on his cell talking to another girl i founded it out because i left my phone in the living room and it was recording and thats how i found out he didnt know about it so the next morning i listened to it and my heart was so broking when i asked him about it he tried lying about it until i told him i had proof then he was silent when he came back from working we sat down and talked he told me that he was going to tell me when the time was right he said he needed to see if the other person is something he wanted he said that he has been done for a while. My pain is he broke my heart by deceiving me i cant forgive him for lying is it wrong?

Christina,

It is up to you to decide what you are willing to put up with in a relationship. You do not appear to be happy about this one at all so why hang on to something you really do not want? You can certainly forgive because there is no reason to carry the hurt and anger forward in your life. Holding on to it only hurts you. It is not only about the cheating, lying or deceit. It is about the picture of the day-to-day relationship you described. Is what you are getting out of this relationship enough? Something better is only possible if you let go and move on.