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The response to danger is always required to be fast. In contrast, the response to safety after danger must necessarily be more cautious and take more time. This assymetry creates certain rules as to how the sensory system deals with information.
Expectation (anticipation) means we have made a prediction about the possible future, often so as to be able to best respond to it when it arrives. However, not all situations are about the need for quick responses in order to survive, and expectation gets in the way of seeing reality. It is not only useful but is also the principle means by which we become de-calibrated. Meaning-making based on expectation may be a self-fulfilling feedback loop. Therefore re-calibration requires that expectation/anticipation is somehow discarded to allow something new to emerge. This can only be done if we feel safe-enough to do so, and we can only feel safe enough if we cease anticipating danger(!) How then does an expectation of danger cease?
This question introduces the way that responses to safety (and good stuff) vs. danger (and not-so-good stuff) are asymmetrical. Danger often requires a quick response – faster than cognitive meaning-making, so survival in danger tends to draw on reactive rather than cognitive meaning-making.
