Spiritual bypassing is a term coined by John Welwood, a transpersonal psychologist. He noticed people often use spirituality as a defense weapon instead of addressing issues. Defense mechanisms are tactics used to avoid unpleasant thoughts or feelings. They help people cope with challenges, but repressing or suppressing emotions can be damaging.
Repressed emotions are the ones that get dumped into the subconscious mind and forgotten.
Suppressed emotions are the ones we put off dealing with.
With the growing concept of a holistic approach to health in Western medicine, it is now widely recognized that emotions can impact your health. Repressing feelings can cause anxiety, digestive issues, depression, inappropriate emotional outbursts, and mood swings and may lead to serious illness due to long-term stress.
People use various strategies to repress or suppress emotions, such as distractions like watching TV or numbing like drinking alcohol. Other defense mechanisms are denying something occurred and displacement or taking your feelings out on someone else. Intellectualizing or rationalizing an incident by using spiritual beliefs to explain why something happened can be a defense mechanism and can slow down your healing process.
Sometimes we feel that we aren’t spiritual enough if we don’t remain optimistic, that we shouldn’t feel a certain way, or that our feelings are bad or wrong. Accepting your emotions and letting go of guilt around how you feel is essential. Spirituality can be a source of strength for many people. It is beneficial unless it causes you to bypass, suppress, or repress your emotions or makes you feel guilty about having them. We all attempt to attach a reason to things that happen to us, both good and bad. And often, we draw answers from our spiritual beliefs. It’s natural and okay to do this but don’t let that stop you from dealing with your issues.
Instead of repressing or suppressing your feelings, you can work to move past trauma or other experiences. Holistic healing modalities can help get you there. Hypnosis can shed light on beliefs, experiences, or character traits that hold you back and the emotions tied to them. Awareness of what is causing you problems is a huge step toward resolutions. Additionally, meditation can help you maintain a more calm and focused state, enabling you to make better choices and see yourself and your life clearly.
Severe mental and physical illnesses and trauma create complex challenges, but dealing with your issues instead of ignoring, projecting, or denying them can lead to recovery. Although spiritual practices have many benefits, they should be combined with methods that help you work through your issues. Therapy, hypnosis, meditation, and other wellness techniques can help.
Coping strategies can assist you in maintaining a greater level of peace in your life while you heal and often include spiritual practices. Productive coping strategies include exercise, socializing, rest, talking with a trusted friend or advisor, breathing exercises, mindfulness walking, eating a clean
and balanced diet, avoiding drugs and alcohol, journaling, and engaging in absorbing activities.
The key is never to give up. If you do the work, in a matter of time, you will see positive results and learn and grow as you move past issues that hold you back.
Best Life-ing offers many strategies to walk with you on your path to healing. Contact them today for a clarity call and devise a plan that suits your needs. Best Life-ing
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