A Practical Guide to Shifting From Contraction to Expansion
Awareness • Reset • Perspective
Insights for living, working and creating from a higher state.
Introduction: The Two States You Live In
You may be asking yourself:
- How do I live my best life?
- How do I handle stress without being overwhelmed?
The answer isn’t in ‘trying harder’.
It begins with understanding your emotional state. At any moment, you are operating from one of two dominant places: Expansion or Contraction. Everything you experience — the choices you make, the people you attract, the opportunities you notice — flows from which state you’re in.
This guide is not about forced positivity. It is about awareness and learning how to reset.
What you will learn
How to recognise the difference between contracting and expanding emotions, how to use a simple three-step reset when you feel triggered, and how to build the internal resources — self-awareness, perspective, stillness — that let you live from expansion as your default state.
1. Contraction vs Expansion: The Core Distinction
At any given moment, your inner state is sitting somewhere on a spectrum between two extremes. The language we will use throughout this guide is simple, contraction and expansion, and is based on the work of David R Hawkins in Power vs Force.
In this study of emotions, Dr Hawkins introduces the Map of Consciousness. This is a map of human emotions calibrated into a scale of frequencies between zero and 1000, determined by applying kinesiology techniques (muscle testing). Contraction emotions are below 200 and expansion emotions are above 200.
Contraction: Survival Mode
Contraction is the state your body and mind enter when they feel threatened — physically, emotionally, socially or financially. It includes fear, shame, guilt, blame and anger.
When you live in these emotions, your world shrinks. You react instead of respond. You blame others or yourself. You defend. You endure with the quiet, heavy attitude that “this always happens to me.”
Contraction is not bad — it is a signal. It tells you that something needs your attention. The problem is not feeling it; the problem is living there because holds you back from thriving in life..
Expansion: Thriving Mode
Expansion is the state of acceptance, love, gratitude, forgiveness, non-judgement and joy. When you live in these emotions, your thinking clears, creativity returns, solutions appear and stress loosens its grip. Now you live in a world of “opportunities come to me.”
In expansion, the same circumstances that felt impossible thirty minutes ago suddenly have visible paths through them. Nothing outside has changed. You have changed internally. That is the critical place for lasting change because your internal state delivers your external outcomes.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Use the comparison below as a diagnostic. When you scan it, notice which side feels more familiar today, this week, this year. That noticing is the first step.
| CONTRACTION (Survival Mode) | EXPANSION (Thriving Mode) |
| • Fear • Shame • Guilt • Blame (self and others) • Anger and resentment • Defensiveness • Judgement • Endurance and resignation | • Acceptance • Love • Gratitude • Forgiveness • Non-judgement • Joy • Curiosity • Trust |
| • Internal view: “This always happens to me” • Reactive, blames or defends • Thinking narrows; tunnel vision • Creativity blocked • Stress tightens its grip • Solutions feel out of reach | • Internal view: “Opportunities come to me” • Responsive, takes ownership • Thinking clears; perspective widens • Creativity returns • Stress loosens its grip • Solutions appear naturally |
Important: This is not about forced positivity
You are not being asked to pretend the contracting emotions don’t exist or to bypass them with a smile. You are being asked to notice them, acknowledge them, and then decide whether you want to stay there or shift. Awareness comes first. Choice comes second.
2. Why This Matters: The Law Behind the Practice
The Universe gives us more of what we are — not what we want.
This is the principle that makes the work of shifting your internal state so important. Most people spend their energy chasing what they want: a different job, more money, better relationships, a calmer mind. But the world tends to mirror back the state you are operating from, not the state you are reaching for.
If you are in chronic contraction — fearful, resentful, defensive — then more of that is what life tends to deliver. Not as punishment, but as pattern. You see what you are tuned to see. You meet what you are tuned to meet. How about deciding to tune into a different channel?
If you are in expansion — grateful, curious, open — you start to notice doors you walked past every day. You meet people who match that frequency. Become what you want. Understand the difference between contracting and thriving emotions, then practice the skills to reset to the state you want to live from.
The Modern Problem
In today’s world, often disconnected from nature and stillness, developing strong internal resources is essential. Notifications, deadlines, comparison and constant input keep most people stuck in low-grade contraction without ever realising it.
The three resources that pull you back are:
- Self-awareness — the ability to see your own state in real time.
- The ability to reset — a repeatable process for shifting from contraction back to expansion.
- Perspective — the willingness to zoom out from the immediate trigger and remember what actually matters.
The Role of Silence
Underneath all three is the willingness to sit in silence long enough to hear your own insights. When those insights arrive, use your free will to make a decision to shift — to seek expanding emotions.
Silence connects us to our higher selves, to the Universe, which has more resources than we can ever imagine. Most stress comes from trying to figure out the “how” in our heads. We stress about the how instead of accepting that the Universe will bring solutions if we change our state to thriving emotions.
Reframe
Your job is not to figure out every step in advance. Your job is to manage your internal state. When your internal state is expanding, the steps forward reveal themselves.
3. Self-Awareness: Learning to Read Your State
You cannot shift a state you cannot see. Self-awareness is the foundational skill. The good news is that it is learnable, and most of the signals are physical, not abstract.
Where to Look
Three places give you reliable information about which state you are in:
- The body. Tight jaw, shallow breath, clenched shoulders, knot in the stomach — these are contraction signals. Open chest, slow breath, relaxed face — these are expansion signals.
- The story. Listen to the narrative running in your head. Words like “always,” “never,” “they,” “unfair” point to contraction. Words like “what if,” “maybe,” “thank you,” “next” point to expansion.
- The behaviour. Are you reaching for distraction, food, the phone, an argument? Or are you reaching for movement, fresh air, a conversation, a pen to journal your thoughts?
Quick Check-In Table
Use the table below as a quick diagnostic when something feels off. Notice which signals are active right now.
| Signal | What it tells you | Likely state |
| Tight chest, shallow breath | Body is bracing | Contraction |
| Repeating the same complaint | Story has hold of you | Contraction |
| Mind racing toward worst case | Fear is driving | Contraction |
| Sense of “it’s unfair” | Blame is active | Contraction |
| Easy laughter, full breath | Nervous system is open | Expansion |
| Noticing small good things | Gratitude is online | Expansion |
| Curious about the situation | Perspective has returned | Expansion |
| Solutions arrive unprompted | You’ve reset | Expansion |
The Two-Minute Self-Awareness Practice
Once a day — ideally first thing in the morning, or just before a meeting or difficult conversation — try this:
- Close your eyes. Take three slow breaths, longer on the exhale than the inhale.
- Scan your body from head to feet. Notice what is tight, what is open.
- Ask: “What am I feeling right now?” Name three emotions, even if they contradict each other.
- Ask: “Which side of the spectrum am I closer to — contraction or expansion?”
- Don’t fix anything. Just register the answer. That noticing is the work.
A note on judgement
When you start paying attention, you may discover you spend more time in contraction than you realised. This is not a problem — it is the first piece of useful data you’ve had. You can’t change a pattern you don’t see. Welcome the visibility.
4. The Reset Process: Three Steps
This is the heart of the practice. When you feel triggered or overwhelmed, the goal is not to pretend you’re fine and push through. The goal is to reset — to move your state from contraction back to expansion so that the next action you take comes from clarity rather than reaction.
The process has three steps, in order. Don’t skip the first two to get to the third.
| Step | Action | Why it works |
| 1 | Become aware | Close your eyes. Focus on your breath. Name what you’re feeling. Acknowledge it. Sit with it without judgement. Naming a feeling reduces its grip on your nervous system. |
| 2 | Create space | Don’t try to fix the situation. Change environments — leave the room, walk, step outside, connect with nature. Physical change interrupts the contraction loop and gives the mind room to settle. |
| 3 | Dissolve and shift | Move deliberately toward expansion: find something to forgive, offer yourself self-love, feel gratitude for the opportunity to review. Once your state changes, solutions emerge. Then act — calmly, clearly, deliberately. |
Step 1: Become Aware
Close your eyes, focus on your breath. Name what you’re feeling. Acknowledge it. Sit with it — without judgement.
This step is often skipped because it feels passive. It isn’t. Naming and acknowledging an emotion physically settles the nervous system. The part of the brain that was on alert begins to stand down. Until that happens, no real shift is possible.
Practical phrases that help: “I notice I am feeling … ”, “It makes sense that I feel … ”, “This is hard, and that’s okay.”
Step 2: Create Space
Don’t try to fix the situation. Take a moment to change environments — leave the room, walk, connect with nature if you can. Create space.
Physical change interrupts the contraction loop. The brain associates your current location with the current emotional charge; moving even ten metres begins to soften that association. Outdoor space, sky, trees and water are especially powerful resets because they remind the nervous system that the world is larger than the problem in front of you.
Ideas for creating space: walk around the block, sit on a bench, stand under a tree, put your hand on a tree, splash cold water on your face, drive somewhere quiet, use your hands and eyes (draw, journal, build something, garden). Anything that physically interrupts the loop counts.
Step 3: Dissolve the Situation by Focusing on Expansion
See where you can forgive. Think self-love. Be grateful for the opportunity to review and for the insights you will gain as you seek solutions. Once your state changes, solutions will emerge. Then move — calmly, clearly, deliberately.
Notice the order: state first, then action. People who try to act from contraction often have to redo the work later, because decisions made from fear or blame rarely hold up. Decisions made from clarity tend to.
Expansion prompts to use in Step 3
- Forgiveness: “Who — including myself — can I release from being wrong in this?”
- Self-love: “What would a kind, wise version of me say to me right now?”
- Gratitude: “What is one thing about this situation I can genuinely appreciate, even if it’s only the lesson?”
- Curiosity: “What is this situation here to show me?”
- Trust: “If I knew a solution was on its way, what would I do in the meantime?”
Remember
You are not denying the problem. You are not pretending things are fine. You are shifting the state from which you will engage the problem. Same problem, different operator.
5. Building the Daily Practice
The reset works in the moment, but the deeper goal is to make expansion your default operating state. That is a daily practice, not a one-off event. Below are the habits that compound over time.
Morning: Set the State
Before email, news, or other people’s priorities reach you, spend five to ten minutes setting your own state.
- Three slow breaths and a body scan.
- Write or say three things you are grateful for — specific ones, not generic.
- Set an intention: not a task list, but a state. “Today I am calm and curious.”
- Step outside, even for a minute, before the day begins.
During the Day: Micro-Resets
You don’t have to wait for a crisis to use the three-step reset. Micro-versions of it, used often, prevent contraction from building in the first place.
- Between meetings, take three breaths before opening the next tab.
- When you notice your jaw tighten, soften it and drop your shoulders.
- Once an hour, look up from the screen and out a window for thirty seconds.
- Bless your water with thriving emotions.
Evening: Review Without Judgement
End the day with a brief, honest review. The goal is information, not self-criticism.
- Where was I in expansion today? What helped?
- Where did I slip into contraction? What was the trigger?
- What is one thing I can do differently tomorrow?
Weekly: Stillness and Nature
Once a week, give yourself a longer block of silence — thirty to sixty minutes with no input. A walk in nature, sitting by water, lying on grass, sitting quietly with a journal. This is where the bigger insights surface.
The principle
Small, consistent practices outperform dramatic one-off efforts. You are not trying to never feel contraction — you are training a faster return to expansion.
6. Applying This in Real Situations
Below are common moments where the reset is most useful, with brief notes on how each step might look in that context.
When a conversation has gone wrong
- Awareness: Notice the heat in your chest, the urge to defend, the story forming about the other person.
- Space: Buy time. “Can we come back to this in an hour?” Step outside.
- Shift: Ask, “What is this person’s situation that might be making them act this way?” Re-enter from curiosity.
When work feels overwhelming
- Awareness: Notice the racing mind, the urge to do everything at once or nothing at all.
- Space: Stand up. Walk away from the screen for five minutes. Don’t check anything.
- Shift: Ask, “What is the one most important thing? What can wait?” Pick one. Begin.
When self-doubt takes over
- Awareness: Notice the inner voice listing reasons you can’t. Don’t argue with it; just hear it.
- Space: Move your body. Walk, stretch, dance for one song.
- Shift: Recall one previous moment when you did the hard thing. Borrow belief from your own past.
When something feels deeply unfair
- Awareness: Acknowledge the anger or grief fully. Don’t bypass it.
- Space: Get outside, ideally somewhere with sky and movement — trees, water, wind.
- Shift: Ask, “What is mine to do in response, and what is not mine to carry?” Act only on the first.
7. Common Obstacles — and How to Move Through Them
“I can’t feel grateful when I’m this angry.”
You’re not meant to. Step 3 only works after Steps 1 and 2. Trying to jump to gratitude from active contraction feels fake and makes it worse. Acknowledge the anger first. Move your body. Then — only then — reach for the gentler emotions, and start small. The first grateful thought might just be “I’m glad I noticed.” That counts.
“I keep falling back into contraction.”
Of course you do. So does everyone. The skill is not avoiding contraction — it’s shortening the time you stay there. Where it used to take a week, it takes a day. Where it took a day, it takes an hour. That is the real progress.
“Silence makes me uncomfortable.”
That discomfort is information. Start with one minute. Then two. Add a walk in nature if pure sitting is too much. The insights live on the other side of the discomfort, so the discomfort is actually a good sign you’re close.
“I don’t believe the Universe will bring solutions.”
You don’t need to. Try it as an experiment, not a belief. For one week, do the reset whenever you notice contraction, then act from the calmer state and observe what happens. The evidence comes from your own life, not from being convinced in advance.
“I don’t have time for this.”
The reset takes two to ten minutes. Contraction can cost you hours, days or relationships. The maths is in favour of the practice.
Borrow belief
Believe in yourself. And if belief feels distant, borrow mine until yours strengthens. Everyone who has built this skill has had moments of doubt. The doubt is not a sign you can’t do this — it’s a sign you’re honest about where you’re starting from.
8. Quick Reference Card
Tear this out, screenshot it, save it to your phone — whatever lets you find it in the moment you need it.
THE RESET
When triggered or overwhelmed
1. AWARE — Close eyes. Breathe. Name what you’re feeling. Sit with it without judgement.
2. SPACE — Don’t fix. Change environment. Walk. Step into nature if you can.
3. SHIFT — Forgive. Self-love. Gratitude. When state changes, solutions emerge. Then move — calmly, clearly, deliberately.
The Universe gives us more of what we are, not what we want.
Closing Thought
You will not live in expansion every minute of every day. It is a rare person who does. The promise of this practice is not perfection — it is a faster return.
Each time you notice contraction and choose to reset, you strengthen the pathway. Each time you reach a calm, clear decision instead of a reactive one, the muscle grows. Over months, the gap between trigger and recovery shrinks. Over years, expansion becomes the home you return to, rather than the destination you reach for.
Become what you want. The state you cultivate is the life you build.
Inspired by the writings and conversations with Michael Telli and his Numente Framework
michaeltellis.com/how-to-raise-your-vibration
michaeltellis.com
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