Spiritual bypassing is using spiritual beliefs or practices to avoid dealing with painful emotions, unresolved trauma, or psychological work.

Coined by psychologist John Welwood, it includes:

• Premature forgiveness before processing pain
• Suppressing anger with "love and light"
• Using "detachment" to avoid intimacy
• Dismissing valid concerns as "low vibration"
• Believing you've transcended feelings you've actually just repressed

It looks like growth but keeps you stuck.

Healthy positivity:

• Acknowledges pain AND chooses hope
• Holds space for difficult emotions
• Finds meaning AFTER processing
• "This is hard, but I believe I can get through it"

Toxic positivity:

• Skips over pain entirely
• Shames "negative" emotions
• Bypasses processing for quick fixes
• "Just be positive! Don't be negative!"

Steps to move from bypassing to authentic practice:

1. Awareness: Notice when you're using spiritual concepts to shut down emotions
2. Feel first: Let yourself fully feel what's there BEFORE reaching for meaning
3. Shadow work: Actively engage with the parts you've been avoiding
4. Therapy + spirituality: Combine psychological and spiritual work
5. Check for superiority: If you feel "above" people who are emotional, that's a red flag

Absolutely—and that's the real goal.

Authentic spirituality includes:

• Space for ALL emotions as valid and sacred
• Engagement with shadow, not avoidance of it
• Humility instead of spiritual superiority
• Integration of psychological and spiritual work
• Compassion that doesn't dismiss pain

The deepest traditions require us to face everything—not escape into light.