What is Spiritual bypassing?

*An excerpt from The Happy Empath’s Workbook

Spiritual bypassing is a “tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks”. – John Welwood.

Spiritual bypassing is something I have experienced on my own awakening journey and have witnessed numerous accounts of others experiencing this defense mechanism as well. It is a common thing for one to experience.

When one goes through an awakening/ascension process, It can feel so overwhelming that one can make the decision not to deal with issues that they are being called upon to heal head on.

Awakening is tough enough on its own. I totally understand. However, it is important not to hide away from that which has been illuminated and needs to be healed in your life.

None of us like to deal with pain, but it is the pain that leads us to figuring out who we are, what serves us and what no longer serves us, so we can live in wholeness. This is what facing the shadow is all about and the sooner one gets to work on facing and healing the shadow self, the sooner things will begin to turn around in a positive direction. Below you will find 5 common signs of spiritual bypassing.

5 signs you are spiritually bypassing: 

1. Numbing yourself emotionally, not acknowledging the real pain you are feeling inside that needs to be sat with and looked at. Pretending that everything is ok when it simply is not.

2. Obsession with 5D talk and energy, failing to recognize that you are living in a 3D world and need to focus on here and now 3D experiences. There is a reason you incarnated here into a physical world. It is necessary to stay grounded, living in this moment and in your current reality.  *This is in no way saying that you cannot acknowledge the 5D or higher realm connection. I know how exciting it can be when you first start tapping into these energies, but one cannot hang out here all of the time. Balance is necessary. 

3. Overemphasizing the positive side to enlightenment, nothing is negative and you don’t want to talk about what needs to be discussed or looked at within your life so you can heal what needs to be healed.

4. Spiritual arrogance or thinking you are more enlightened than others. Everyone is enlightened, we all just seem to notice at different times.

5. Overly detaching yourself from everything. Not caring about anything and convincing yourself that everything will just work out. *We are co-creators with the universe and we must take action towards the guidance that spirit offers to us. Without action steps being taken, opportunities and aligning with that which you desire or that which is meant for you, can be missed. 

It is easy to become a spiritual bypasser because anything that ultimately helps us disconnect and keeps us from facing ourselves feels better.

It is important to acknowledge and recognize that spiritual bypassing is a real thing that many individuals experience. If any of the above signs resonate with you, it’s ok. You are now aware that this may be something you are doing or have done. Now you can make the conscious decision to surrender to and learn from your experiences with it.

Often times, once we have been moved through these lessons another layer is peeled back, more healing occurs and the more in tune with ourselves we truly are.