There's a version of spiritual bypassing that sounds evolved. Wise, even.

"I don't want to make anyone the villain." "I've moved past labels."

In this episode I'm calling it what it is — the spiritual trap. It's self-gaslighting dressed up in mature-sounding language. And it keeps you from ever naming what actually happened to you.

Here's the thing. Your mind can rewrite the story. Your body can't. The tight shoulders, the dropping stomach, the exhaustion that won't lift, the insomnia — that's the truth still trying to be heard. When you override those signals with spiritual language, you're doing the same thing that was done to you as a child. You're dismissing her.

I break down the reasons we don't name our experiences.

The fear of getting pulled into the empath vs narcissist loop online. Naming a pattern privately is not the same as building your entire identity around a role.

The fear of being "too much" or "too dramatic." That's the inner child still trying to be a good kid so she doesn't get in trouble for having feelings.

The fear that naming it means confronting the person or publicly blowing up your life. It doesn't. Naming is a private act between you, your inner child, and maybe a coach or therapist.

I also say something I'm firm about — never tell a narcissistic person they are a narcissist. That is not the work.

If you're a coach, this matters even more. Refusing to name your own patterns creates a ceiling. Your clients will hit the exact walls you're hiding behind. It shows up in your pricing and your presence and what you're able to receive.

Acknowledging your inner child was a victim doesn't make you a victim now. As the adult, you have power and choices she didn't have — which is exactly why you can finally hold what happened with honesty and love her through it.

Ready to do this work? My free masterclass, Release Toxic Cycles & Become the Coach You Were Meant to Be, is where we go deeper: https://nikoanab.easywebinar.live/event-registration

And if you want to start reparenting your inner child today, my book Healing the Inner Child with EFT Tapping: A Step-by-Step Guide to Emotional Freedom & Reparenting Yourself has the tapping scripts to help you begin: https://heartshinerevolution.com/books