One minute I’m encouraging strangers online to agree that we live in a friendly universe. The next, I’m mentally calculating five ways the world could collapse by next Tuesday.

There are two sides to me… and probably to you.

The first is the one I share on social media: positive, uplifting, always leaning toward kindness and expansion.

The second is the one my family and close friends see: driven by pattern recognition, always scanning for what could go wrong so we can stay safe.

I used to think one side was expansive and the other contractive—love versus fear. But the truth is more interesting than that.

Is it contractive to run from someone chasing you with an axe? Can’t you save your family from a tsunami and still be acting out of love?

This expansion/contraction stuff is harder than it seems. Always being positive can veer into “toxic positivity”—denying reality. “We’ll be fine” won’t protect you from an avalanche.

Still, I seek out the most expansive people I can find. My Bend Reality community brings such folks together, and we do our best to support each other.

Why read yet another newsletter?

Because this is where I wrestle with both sides—and invite you to do the same. Not to find perfect balance, but to stay honest, aware, and connected along the way.

Unless you regularly do the work of balancing these two forces, they’ll almost certainly fall out of sync. My goal is to make that work a little easier—for both of us.

Come join me. Let’s find a better rhythm on the journey through life.

Please subscribe. See where it takes you.