Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.

Warmth and trust are two different things, and treating them as one is how people get hurt. You can be kind to everyone you meet without handing everyone the parts of your life that could be used against you. Closeness is earned slowly, by watching how someone handles small things: a confidence kept, a promise honoured when keeping it cost them something. Most betrayals grow out of giving too much too early rather than out of bad luck.

Think of who heard something private from you this month. Where the trust ran ahead of what you had actually seen, slow down and let time do the testing.