A positive relationship requires mutual trust. Without trust, spouses, diplomats, friends and co-workers, neighbours and others cannot build an enjoyable relationship.

Sadly, many people think that they have a great relationship as long as “they can get away with it”, rather than ensuring they are trustworthy. That is called lowest-denominator thinking. I suppose it is survivalist; if surviving is your reason for living, that’s just grand.

Children trust their parents just to survive.

But what if you want more out of life than just surviving?

Many divorces – not all, of course – boil down to one partner or both devaluing trust. War is usually the result of one or more countries or leaders failing to ensure they are trustworthy. And often on-the-job problems are the result of missing trust.

I will leave you to define for yourself whether these situations pass or fail even the survival test.

But if you want more out of life than just surviving, or in my opinion, failing to do so, think about the people you have a relationship with:

• boss, employee, co-worker, business partner
• spouse, child, parent, sibling
• friend
• your child’s teacher, a neighbor

Have you earned the trust of these people? When you give your word to them, do you ALWAYS mean it? And do they know that you do? If not, now is a great time to start building the trust so vital to positive relationships.

Make sure you DO mean it. Every time. And make sure they know.