When Distortion Becomes the Air We Breathe...

When distortion becomes the air we breathe…

I don’t know if this ache in me will ever quiet…
The pull to help people pierce through distortion and see reality with clearer eyes.
Because from that place of distortion, we harm one another preventably. Unimaginably.
And it comes from within - our trauma, our conditioned beliefs, our tribalism + ego…

It all coalesces in a veil that clouds our perception of reality.
We become walled off, frightened, reactive…
Unable to see the humanity in others…
Unable to see the humanity in ourselves.

At this moment, this piercingly painful, loudly chaotic, violently disturbing moment…
There is one sole cause, from my lens.
Christian Nationalism.

The idea that one group is in sole possession of the truth.
The idea that a book or person should be given authority simply because they say it’s so.

That isn’t spirituality. That isn’t holy.
That isn’t sacred, humble or reverent.

It’s ego masquerading as wisdom.
And this distortion? IT CAN BE SHIFTED.

Hang in there.
Grieve, cry, scream.
On the other side of this rawness, this permission to live with the truth of this moment…
There is a tiny pocket of peace waiting within each of us individually.

That space that’s created when we allow a heavy emotion to be felt - fully, even if in measured doses - until it has the time and space to run it’s course.
The peace on the other side? The liminal space between the raw and the transcendent peace of healing?

Teaching this practice has become my life’s work.
Alchemizing our pain.
When enough of us do this…the process gains momentum.
The arc of liberty bends wider.

And we can step into a world with more empathy.
More humility.
More kindness.
More faith (from a place of universality), hope…and love.

Written by Dr. Jen Johannsen



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I think you'll especially like my 'Field Guide for Bridge Building Conversations' PDF and a free workshop I did a few months ago, Anchored + Awake.