Anyone can be spiritually maladapted, but as an alcoholic, we use alcohol to deal with having a spiritual malady. Many people say that alcoholics have a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. There are as many different definitions of what spirituality means as there are alcoholics in recovery. A spiritual awakening in recovery is a very personal experience. The way humans think is on a spectrum of self-centeredness and god-centeredness.
My commitment to continuous learning and collaboration makes me an asset to the healthcare community. Once you’ve found something that you can believe in, it’s important to remember that your Learn What Spiritual Malady Is And The Role It Plays In Your Recovery Higher Power is there for you when you need it. When things get tough, take a moment to pray, meditate, or just sit quietly and think about your Higher Power and what it means to you.
Thoughts of Recovery – No.17 – The Spiritual Malady – Step 1
It is very difficult for me to come to terms with my spiritual illness because of my great pride, disguised by my material successes and my intellectual power. Intelligence is not incompatible with humility, provided I place humility first. To seek prestige and wealth is the ultimate goal for many in the modern world. To be fashionable and to seem better than I really am is a spiritual illness.
When people become too self-reliant, they may stop working on their program entirely. This complacency can then lead to a sense of entitlement which is extremely dangerous for people in recovery. Entitlement leads to unrealistic expectations, which often leads to disappointment and resentment. Anxiousness, depression, and boredom are a few other factors that contribute to being spiritually maladapted.
Cultivating Connections in Recovery: Fellowship and a Higher Power
When dealing with the disease of alcoholism we are selfish and self-centered beings. We use everything and everyone, even when we stop using alcohol and drugs to cope with these feelings of being unsatisfied and uncomfortable in life. The more we focus less on ourselves we allow a god of our understanding to enter our minds and work in our lives. When left unresolved, a spiritual malady will continue to lead to restlessness, irritability, and discontentment. It can also lead to other problems, such as alcohol abuse or other addictions.
- These expressions that help people recovering from addiction regain a spiritual footing once again.
- Bryan was born in Philadelphia and remains an ardent supporter of Philadelphia sports.
- You should also try to find other people in AA who share your beliefs and struggles; they can provide support and fellowship as well as offer helpful advice.
- If you have found yourself or a loved one suffering from alcoholism or addiction, you are not alone!
Practicing prayer and meditation helps us be mindful of our surroundings and gain consciousness of our spirituality by bringing us closer to our higher power. Strengthening this relationship with a spiritual being brought us hope that we can recover from the mental and physical suffering of alcoholism. We become so fixated on it that almost everything we do leads us to think about getting intoxicated. The mind and alcoholism are so cunning, baffling, and powerful that we often cannot fathom how we ended up intoxicated when relying on our strong willpower to stay sober.
The Spiritual Malady of Addiction: What Is It Exactly?
In sobriety, if we are self-reliant we usually end up using anything that will make us feel good externally excessively. A spiritual malady is a deep-seated inner conflict that leads to restlessness, irritability, and discontentment. It is a sense of “otherness” that keeps us from feeling at peace with ourselves and the world around us.
Thankfully, the “spiritual malady” is no longer a “missing piece” of Step One for me. It is a reality of my powerlessness and unmanageability and enables me to see why I so desperately need to seek a Power Greater than myself. And unless this malady is recognized, and a course of action (the Twelve Steps) is taken to enable God to remove it, the root of our alcoholic illness can lie dormant and burn us when we least expect it. Thankfully, the “spiritual malady” is no longer a “missing piece” of Step One for me. You are merely instructed to be open to the idea that you are not the end all be all, that there exists out in the universe something that is greater or more powerful than yourself. However, you choose to interact with that higher power is also up to you.
This is one of the reasons that Big Book study groups have become so popular among recovering alcoholics. Apart from dissecting the Big Book so as to have a firmer grasp on the 12 Steps and program and in general, it also is designed to help us decipher the intricate language and wording used from a different time period. Old timers and recovering people with more experience can explain in layman’s terms just what the author Bill W.
Whether you seek to engage in formal prayer, informal mental conversations, or merely by doing good and putting positive energy into the universe, there is no right or wrong way to pray to your higher power. Once you open up to this idea and implement that spiritual connection, you will experience your long-awaited spiritual awakening, the answer to that pesky spiritual malady we suffer from as alcoholics. What can “spiritual malady” possibly mean to someone who doesn’t believe in God? Is the whole idea of someone being spiritually ill acceptable? These are questions that I have had to struggle with as an agnostic in AA.
After reading ‘The Doctor’s Opinion,’ ‘Bill’s Story,’ and ‘There is a Solution,’ in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, we came to an understanding that we have no control whatsoever over alcohol or drugs. On page 62 the text explains that “Selfishness-self-centeredness! https://trading-market.org/most-people-with-alcohol-and-drug-addiction/ According to the Big Book authors, these are the recognizable benchmarks that tell us we are having a spiritual experience or awakening. On page 62 the text explains that “Selfishness-self-centeredness!
- They may start to skip meetings, distance themselves from their support system, and eventually relapse.
- Apart from dissecting the Big Book so as to have a firmer grasp on the 12 Steps and program and in general, it also is designed to help us decipher the intricate language and wording used from a different time period.
- The spiritual malady is the result of my being out of order with my higher power who I choose to call God.