The Spiritual Malady: A Hole in the Soul Sobriety Guides

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. To conclude, it’s not my body — my allergic reaction to alcohol — that’s going to take me back to drinking. It’s really not my mind — the mental obsession — that is the underlying root of what will take me back to drinking. It’s the “spiritual malady”, as manifested by my EGO (selfishness-self-centeredness), that can eventually lead me back to drinking or sometimes even suicide. You may suspect that you have a spiritual malady if you are struggling with feelings of discontentment, disconnection from others, or a sense of purposelessness in life.

• Sponsees typically do their Fifth Step, review their moral inventory written as part of the Fourth Step, with their sponsor.
• It is this notion that the fellowship of AA was founded upon, and how millions of recovered alcoholics equate their success in overcoming a seemingly hopeless situation.
• In these times personal threat load is extremely high and is being reflected in systemic dysfunction.
• The best way to assist someone experiencing spiritual distress is to be an active listener and provide support in a calm, peaceful environment.
• This process helps individuals develop a strong sense of self-awareness, empathy, and compassion towards others.

What are some benefits of overcoming the spiritual malady?

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. Particularly notable to this discussion is what we look like in threat. In threat, we can be mobilized towards aggressive or reactive defenses or we can be immobilized into passive or submissive defenses. Both phenotypes are helpful for survival, but long-term defense states are ultimately destructive to us. The idea is to look for a spiritual solution to an addiction problem, as this type of issue affects more than someone physically. These expressions that help people recovering from addiction regain a spiritual footing once again.

What is Authentic Spiritual Healing?

By using this approach, a recovering addict can experience a notable change in their outlook. Following this program will cause them to feel less alone or closed off from the messages of life, thus relieving them from the burden of isolation. Doing so will give you a better idea of how a spiritual malady affects an alcoholic.

Types of Spiritual Healing (& What to Be Careful Of)

It is important that when we embark upon this quest to alleviate our spiritual malady that we are not too harsh on ourselves. No one is perfect at first when attempting to live a spiritual life, especially when we are coming back from a long spiritual hiatus. What is important though is that we strive to be a little better every single day and never give up on our spiritual journey in recovery. So long as we make an active effort to address our spiritual malady every day, we will find relief from it, one day at a time. One way to overcome a spiritual malady is to connect with your spiritual or higher power. This can be done through prayer, meditation, or participating in a religious or spiritual community.

• The way humans think is on a spectrum of self-centeredness and god-centeredness.
• I finally realised I was in a pattern of abuse/codependency and that healing itself was its own trap, and had to leave and deal with the hurt.
• Yes, it’s crucial to seek support from psychiatrists and therapists.
• Below is an overview of the 12 admissions that support the 12 steps toward recovery.

A spiritual illness is a profound inability to connect with others in a meaningful way. The solution to spiritual malady offered by Alcoholics Anonymous is to affect a spiritual awakening – in essence a psychic shift or attitude adjustment. In The Big Book of AA, the 12 steps outlined are a formalized approach to achieving this transformational change. When these physical, mental, and spiritual components come together, an individual with alcohol use disorder will be rendered powerless to arrest a vicious cycle of obsessions, cravings, and alcohol abuse. According to Alcoholics Anonymous, informally known as The Big Book, when someone with alcoholism drinks, they have an abnormal reaction likened to an allergic reaction.

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Once a person with AUD takes an alcoholic drink, the body craves more on a physical level. This is why 12-step organizations believe it is not possible to conquer alcoholism using willpower alone. I have been “healing” for a few years now, working on various things. I gave many more things to address but the last year or so I’ve felt stuck. I asked for guidance and was presented with a secure job with benefits and pension (which i have never had for my own ever)!

A Spiritual Remedy for a Spiritual Condition

It doesn’t matter what your Higher Power is; what matters is that you believe in something that can help guide and support you on your journey to recovery. Here are some things you can do to work through your spiritual malady even if you don’t believe in God or have an understanding of your higher power. In sobriety, it is so important to maintain conscious contact with a higher power and count our blessings.

There’s a reason why no one talks about the dark side of spiritual healing. It’s important to be educated and use spiritual discernment here. And sometimes, our motivations for spiritual healing are wrong.

I experienced all of the above signs of Complicated Grief but I can now see that I’m at the other side of it. Yes it is hard to live without my baby we had an amazing relationship but I feel stronger and able to move spiritual malady meaning forward. Through prayer, we tap into the ancient practice of communing with something deeper within us. Even if you feel nothing at first, prayer helps you to access a glimmer of hope, a hint of light on the horizon.