Insight
There once were two brothers, Limit and Expand. Limit loved to play at home and build from the resources provided by mother and father, but Expand grew tired of home and looked beyond the family plot and wondered.
“What is behind the wall? What lives in forest yonder? What flies above the sky so blue? Where does the river flow?” he asked.
Limit ignored his brother and even built more, creating labyrinths from anything extra he could find. He had to do so, for his brother neglected his duties at home, caught up in dreams and fancies. Their mother grew tired of their discord and commanded them to reconcile. But the young brothers never could find peace.
One day Expand and Limit walked in the garden and found a fairy. She lie still, nearly dead. Ants already surrounded her fragile body. Limit sighed, but continued walking. Expand scattered the ants and lifted the fairy in his hands, high above his head.
Limit cried out for his brother broke the rule - “Never touch a fairy!”
Expand cried out for his brother held him back - “Let me go!”
Limit and Expand wrestled in the garden until the fairy woke and laughed at them both. As she flew away, she turned back into their mother. She looked back and said,
”Limit, you will never leave home, and many will hate you, but order and life will beg for your blessing.”
“Expand, you will never find home, and many will seek you, but order and life will fear for your attention.”
The mother finally achieved her desire, for Expand left home that day and Limit remind behind. The two never met again, but constantly tugged at one another from opposite ends of the world and in our hearts.
Both masters teach a lesson - we might favor one over the other. Limit often gets bad publicity, but in fact, it is discipline, hard work, saying “no” and boundaries that often gain us results in our goals that ironically, were given to us by Expand.
Unite the two in your life, like two breaths coming together in seamless rhythm. Let’s give Limit some spotlight today in our questions and direction.
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