Recognising Spiritual Bypassing: A Guide to Self-Awareness and Growth

In the pursuit of spiritual growth and personal development, it is essential to navigate the path with mindfulness and self-reflection. One challenge that individuals often face on their journey is spiritual bypassing, a pattern of avoiding uncomfortable emotions or personal issues.

Recognizing this tendency within ourselves is crucial for authentic growth and inner transformation. In this sharing, we will explore the signs of spiritual bypassing, its origins, and practical steps to address it, all to foster genuine spiritual development.

Signs of Spiritual Bypassing:

Spiritual bypassing can manifest in various ways, often stemming from a desire for quick fixes and instant relief from emotional discomfort. Being able to see these signs within ourselves enables us to take proactive steps towards true healing. As I shared in my Livestream on the Dark Side Of The Spiritual Path  "Look for patterns of avoiding uncomfortable emotions or personal issues. It's important to be mindful of this tendency."

Origins and Influences:

To understand why spiritual bypassing occurs, we must acknowledge the societal and cultural influences perpetuating this pattern. Traditionally, religious institutions and some spiritual teachings have promoted the idea of quick solutions and bypassing emotions. "We have been taught that this is the way to deal with it by churches, religious organizations, and even some new age spiritual teachers." However, the path to genuine spiritual growth necessitates a deeper exploration of our emotional landscapes.

Embracing Discomfort for Inner Growth:

To counteract spiritual bypassing, we must be willing to sit with discomfort and actively engage with our emotions. "Sitting with the discomfort in the body is key, and if it proves challenging, seeking support from a therapist or coach can help." Learning how to be present with our emotions is akin to nurturing our inner parent and fostering self-compassion.

Cultivating Inner Parenting:

Inner parenting is a powerful tool for addressing spiritual bypassing and developing emotional resilience. By learning to nurture and hold space for ourselves, we can approach our pain with patience and understanding. Do explore the concept of inner parenting, as it plays a pivotal role in spiritual development, you can learn more about Inner Parenting through my YouTube video, here's the link: https://youtu.be/TysEL5ujGJI

The Journey of Healing:

Healing is not an overnight process; it requires time, effort, and a commitment to self-reflection. Healing is a lifelong journey that allows us to embrace the lessons and growth that come with it. "Question the authenticity of quick fixes. Healing is a process that demands patience, learning, and understanding."

Avoiding Extremes: Minimizing and Maximizing:

In our quest for healing, we often lean towards extremes, either minimizing or maximizing our pain. Both approaches can hinder our progress. Minimizing our emotions by utilizing spiritual practices as a band-aid solution only masks the underlying issues. On the other hand, maximizing our pain can lead to emotional exhaustion and isolation. Finding the middle way, where we patiently sit with our pain and allow it to transform, is the key to genuine healing.

Spiritual bypassing has been so normalised as it is being practised by most, including spiritual leaders who have not worked through their shadow, and their limited psychology is being passed to their followers. No one can truly have a 100% connection with the divine, however, inspired they may be by the Divine, it is still limited by the messenger's shadow and unhealed aspects of themselves. Followers of any spiritual organizations or religions must not be so naive but learn to break out of groupthink every once in a while to get a better sense of reality.

I will share more about the power of Group Think in the next article. 

© Shamala Tan 2023

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Shamala Tan is an author, spiritual entrepreneur and healer. Her work focuses on transforming the lives of others on the spiritual, emotional, mental and earthly levels.

One of her success stories as an author is to be featured alongside New York’s bestsellers Sonia Choquette, Robert Allen, Arielle Ford, Marci Shimoff as well as Christine Kloser in the book Pebbles In The Pond.

Shamala’s clients include small business owners, holistic practitioners as well as those seeking to find more significant meaning and value in life. Shamala offers laser coaching to her clients on a one-to-one basis or in a group environment, offline as well as online.