Expanding Beyond Survival Thinking

Unlearning the mindset that tells us enough is too much

Before We Begin, Let’s Ground Together

Close your eyes, if it feels safe.
Place one hand over your heart, the other on your belly.
Take a breath that fills more than your lungs—let it touch your soul.

Exhale the conditioning that tells you: “This is all you get.” 🌬️
Exhale the whisper that says: “Don’t want too much.” 🌬️
Exhale the myth that’s kept you small, silent, and surviving. 🌬️

Now, breathe deeper—into your belly.

Because when they couldn’t shrink your spirit, they tried to shrink your breath.
Your sovereign breath. Your sacred expansion. Your right to take up space.

And beloved, I need you to know:

One of the hardest things I’ve had to teach—particularly to white women—is how to breathe deeply.
Not just physiologically—but spiritually.
To take in as much air as your body can hold.
To feel worthy of the fullness.
To allow yourself to expand from the inside out.

Patriarchy taught you shallow breathing.
It taught you to be still, silent, small—to take up as little space as possible, even inside your own body.

But not today.
Today, you become expansive.

Because these systems? They only survive when you contract.

And if you’ve ever wondered why Black women are often labeled as “too much”—loud, bold, boisterous—it’s because we had to learn to take up space as resistance.
We learned that silence was a grave, and visibility was survival.

And white woman, I have a sacred surprise for you:

Your ancestors—before they became “white”—they knew how to expand.
They howled and danced and resisted.
They were sovereign and spirit-led.
They took up sacred space, spoke truth to power, and passed down wisdom through their breath.

You can still feel it—in the Irish women’s rebellion, in the Scottish warrior women, in the quiet wisdom of the ones who tended earth and fire.

So let me ask you this again:

Who were you before you were white?
🌬️ Breathe in… and exhale.

Because no matter how oppression touches your lineage,
you have the right—and the responsibility—to reclaim your fullness.

Let’s name it clearly:

Supremacy culture taught us to disconnect from breath, body, and becoming.
But that disconnection shows up differently depending on how you’ve been socialized.

Let’s name the ways:

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🌬️ For women and femmes—especially white women: You were rewarded for silence and self-erasure. You learned to shrink inwards, to apologize before speaking, to see your own needs as burdens.

🌬️ For Black and brown women and non-men: You were forced to be expansive—to carry, hold, perform, and survive in the face of erasure. You were never allowed to be soft, and silence wasn’t safe—it was obliteration.

🌬️ For white men and masc folks: You were taught to externalize power but deny your own inner life. You were told that control is strength, emotions are weak, and your worth is tied to dominance. But at what cost to your peace?

🌬️ For Black and brown men and masc folks: You were denied tenderness, robbed of childhood, hardened by both racism and patriarchy. You carry a weight you were never meant to bear alone.

🌬️ For queer and trans folks: Your truth was treated as a threat. You learned to hide, contort, perform safety in a world that refused to hold your wholeness. But your authenticity cracks open portals to freedom every single day.

🌬️ For disabled folks: You were told your worth depended on your “productivity.” You were expected to shrink your needs, hide your pain, and prove your value. But interdependence? That’s the wisdom we all need to survive.

🌬️ For children: You were taught obedience over curiosity. Told to hush, to sit still, to fall in line. But you were born whole—intuitive, imaginative, and sacred.

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We are all woven into this web.
And liberation? It lives in the breath that says:

🌬️ I will no longer shrink.
🌬️ I will no longer twist myself into a version that fits inside cages.
🌬️ I will breathe deeply, unapologetically, and reclaim the rhythm of my own becoming.

So beloved, however you move through this world:

Breathe like you belong.
Breathe like your ancestors are behind you.
Breathe like you’re remembering who you were before they told you to forget.

This is the beginning of expansion.
Not just into the world—but into yourself.

Ase and Ameen, you are sacred. You are soil and sky. You are already worthy.

I hope what you’ve read so far felt resonant—like a breath you didn’t know you were holding finally released.

If this reflection stirred something in you—if it filled you, challenged you, or reminded you of your own sacredness—I invite you to journey even deeper.

This is an invitation to honor the truth that healing is not just personal—it’s political, ancestral, and communal. And we don’t do it alone.

✨ Join us on the venture of liberation.
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You belong here.
Let’s emerge, expand, and embody what it means to be free—together.