The extent that you can EXPAND your edges of personal expression & embodiment are shaped by how much capacity you have to hold & meet what arises amidst the CONTRACTION that follows each expansion.

If you are truly expanding, whatever it is that has kept you from expressing beyond a certain range previously - will arise to be felt.⁠

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Commonly, shame.⁠

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I have written before that, in this sense, shame is not a BAD sign. It is the expected accompaniment to expansion.⁠

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But this is also why gradual expansion is actually FASTER in the long run.⁠

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Because the NS cannot sustain massive ongoing expansion given that it must also then be present to massive ongoing contraction.⁠

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And when we experience TOO BIG of a contraction (i.e. more than we can really MEET in ourselves), the NS learns —> “it’s not SAFE to expand like this”⁠

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There are people who are seemingly in an ongoing state of very rapid expansion.⁠

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To me, their NS feels like it is on a hamster wheel of avoiding the contraction.⁠

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And there is a quality of hollowness - because INTEGRATION of the expansion hasn’t occurred.⁠

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And inevitably there will be a point of burnout.⁠

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I know this because I have done this.⁠

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Eventually there is a significant refractory period that can end up being MUCH longer than the integration time required for “smaller bites” of expansion.⁠

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Plus, when you begin with small bites, you build TRUST within yourself.⁠

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The trust that you can MEET the contraction and still feel safe.⁠

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As that trust deepens, then the pace of expansion actually does increase in a healthy & sustainable manner.