We explore cognitive dissonance in my course, it one of the biggest barriers in this work. Here's Chamieka on the topic: "You know. If I ever went back for a PhD, my dissertation would be on white people and cognitive dissonance. Because I keep seeing the same thing play out. Every time a story gets posted, here come the comments. “This has to be rage bait.” “There’s no way this is real.” And I’m just sitting here like… why are you acting surprised? Where have you been? Do you really think white people don’t think like this? Don’t say things like that? Don’t move like that? At some point, that’s not you being unaware. That’s you choosing not to see it. This is why so many Black folks feel like there are two America’s. Because this country doesn’t move the same depending on who you are. One version gets the benefit of the doubt, safety, and grace, while the other has to explain, defend, and survive the same situations just to be believed. A girl raised to fear Black men. A mother panicking because her daughter is having a baby with a Black man. Two college students pushing their Black roommate out. This isn’t rare. This is regular. People deal with this every day. But instead, you start picking it apart. Looking for a reason it can’t be true. Questioning the person, the details, the timing. Anything so you don’t have to sit with what it actually means. Because if it’s real, then something about how you’ve been seeing things doesn’t hold up. And a lot of y’all don’t want to touch that. You move through the world like white is the default. Like it’s the default setting. So when something ugly comes from that same place, it feels wrong to you. Again, NOT because it’s rare, but because it doesn’t match what you’ve been telling yourself. So you push it away. Call it fake. Call it exaggerated. Call it anything but what it is. That’s the dissonance. It’s not that you don’t understand. It’s that understanding would cost you something, and you’re not trying to pay that.

I know it's hard for me to journal, and a lot of us have journalling trauma or writing trauma. But it can help to know why it's actually good to journal. If writing words is hard, doodle your thoughts, scribble, write symbols over and over till you fill up a page. Rip it up. Burn it. Junk collage. There are no rules, just process.

June holds a lot of stories. It's a month that invites us to celebrate culture, honor resilience, recognize struggle, and learn from histories that are too often left out of the mainstream narrative. This month includes: 🎵 Black Music Month ✊🏾 Black Lives Matter Awareness 🌴 Caribbean Heritage Month 🏳️‍🌈 Pride Month 👨🏾 Father's Day 🧠 Men's Mental Health Awareness 💙 National Men's Health Month 🌍 Immigrant Heritage Month 🖤 Juneteenth (June 19) 🪶 National Indigenous History Month As always, I encourage people to go beyond awareness and into understanding. Ask questions. Read books. Learn whose stories were erased. Explore how systems, policies, culture, and history shape the world we live in today. Most importantly, remember that celebration and truth-telling can exist together. This month, let's honor the people, movements, cultures, and communities that continue to shape our collective future. What are you hoping to learn, celebrate, or reflect on this June? 👇🏽

Most of us were never taught how to feel safe inside our own bodies. We learned to ignore hunger, push through exhaustion, disconnect from emotions, prioritize productivity over well-being, and live in our heads instead. Many of these patterns are reinforced by the culture around us: urgency, perfectionism, individualism, "powering through," and treating rest as something that must be earned. Over time, calm can feel unfamiliar. Rest can feel uncomfortable. Listening to ourselves can feel unsafe. And it affects everything—our sleep, relationships, intuition, boundaries, and ability to be present. Feeling safe in your body is a skill. It's also an act of resistance against systems and cultures that teach us to disconnect from ourselves. This guide explores nervous system safety, embodiment, and the small practices that help us rebuild trust with our bodies—one moment at a time. 💜

Check your Privilege wheel: Privilege is not about whether your life has been hard. Privilege is about which parts of your identity give you more access, safety, belief, protection, or power in society. https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/07/what-checking-privilege-means/