I consider myself a spiritual person, but not a religious one. I love all the spiritual practices I do on a daily basis. Having strong beliefs allows us to trust in the hard times and come out the other side feeling as though we’ve learned something valuable. We are more likely to feel connected to God and to ourselves.

Of course, feeling connected to a higher power, source/God energy looks different for each of us. Being able to let go and trusting the path when things simply don’t make sense to your conscious mind gives us peace during difficult times.

The truth is, no one knows for certain, and just because we can’t “see” something, doesn’t mean it isn’t real. I like to believe things happen for a reason, but who can say if things really do happen for a reason? Do we really come here with a pre-determined soul karma, or if we have any control at all?

Because there is wisdom in the higher power beliefs, it is important to become aware in ways we could bypass our human experience by over intellectualizing everything, avoiding responsibility or living in our heads in the name of spirituality.

Spiritual bypassing is dangerous - it stops us from feeling and processing our emotions honestly. It holds us back from stepping into our power by taking ownership for our lives. This causes us to separate ourselves from others.

What is spiritual bypassing?

• Avoiding feelings of anger

• Believing in your own spiritual superiority as a way to hide from insecurities

• Falsely believing that traumatic events must serve as a “learning experiences” or that there is a silver lining behind every negative experience

• Falsely believing that spiritual practices such as prayers and meditation are always positive

• Feeling detachment

• Pretending that things are fine when they are clearly not

• Suppressing negative feelings like anger, sadness or frustration

• Clinging to love and light without creating space for the shadow

• Over intellectualizing things to avoid feeling big emotions or triggers

• Identifying as “extra special” or “different” because of one’s spiritual beliefs or practice

Ironically, the more we hold onto the idea that we are superior or exempt from certain parts of human existence because of our spirituality, the less “spiritual” we really are. How sad!

We are allowed to feel anger, sadness, joy, and even sex because all of this emotions are spiritual. We all feel them, even if you want to shut them down.

How do we become more authentic and not fall into the pitfalls of spirituality? We begin to engage in healing work. We make peace with our shadow by accepting all parts of ourselves, the good and the bad, while having compassion for ourselves. We befriend our inner child to have a better understanding of our childhood traumas. We step into true authentic alignment with ourselves when we acknowledge and accept ourselves for who we are in totality.

I have created a unique 12-step program that helps individuals transform from the inside out to give you that solid foundation you deserve. It is a free download. If you are interested in learning more, please visit my website and sign up to receive this free download. click here for more information.

I will leave you with these questions to ponder. What spiritual practices prevent you from your own feelings? How can you identify distorted perceptions in your own spiritual beliefs?

Sincerely, Vania

Photo by Obie Fernandez on Unsplash