Welcome to Deconstructing Gaslighting the podcast. I’m your host, Sarah Morales. Today’s episode may be one of the most difficult I’ve ever done, and that’s because the topic is SO TRICKY. It’s also super, super important. So, I’m going to ask that you hang with us for a bit. If it feels like a sensitive topic to you, I invite you to give my guest and I just five to ten minutes to see our hearts and hear how we unpack today’s topic. That topic is about the ways GASLIGHTING and religion intersects, and the myriad of ways that’s playing out in both our individual and corporate lives.

Bio: My guest today is no stranger to the pod... Ms. Jenni Rochelle!

Story Time: Sarah and Jenni start by talking about the difference between faith (a belief) and religion (a system), in the hopes of setting the stage for a safe place to ask the questions and challenge any toxicity we may see in the religious systems we find ourselves in. They share some of the most common ways people experience religious GASLIGHTING/abuse.

Top Take-Aways:

1. Look for signs of religious gaslighting: feeling a LOT of fear, shame or coercion; experiencing isolation/being told not to trust “non-believers”; inconsistency in messaging and/or inconsistency between messaging and living things out; the dogma of there being only one “right” way (values; how to be a good person, etc.) and look for incongruence in yourself – when you can’t “shake” a bad feeling in your gut/soul/body
2. Give yourself permission to ask questions… and keep asking them and seek out answers from a variety of sources – not just ones that will reinforce what you’ve been told already by your “leaders”.
3. Be willing/ready to sit in the cognitive dissonance that this kind of work creates – that means you’re doing the work! Trust that the process will bring you to truth.

If you want to understand more about the ways gaslighting has shown up in your life, and robbed you of knowing yourself, loving yourself, and trusting yourself, check out my website. I have offerings that will help you break the hold religious GASLIGHTING has had over you and help you step into self-trust and Radical self-love.

I invite you to follow me on your preferred social media platform… I’m on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

And remember – you may have crashed and burned; been broke and hurt, but damn it, you’re a phoenix and you’re rising again. I think it’s time we fly.