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. Although spiritual awakenings are often part of the recovery process, obviously they are far from unique to people in recovery. Such awakenings need not involve religion or “finding God.” In a general sense the experience relates to recognizing and beginning to internalize a connection with that which is beyond self. Some people have an image of an instantaneously life-changing event—the equivalent of being struck by a bolt of lightening or being spoken to by a burning bush (a la Moses) or some similarly dramatic and unmistakable occurrence.
- As you grow in your sobriety and learn more about yourself, you may find that your concept of a Higher Power changes as well.
- With this support, individuals gain greater self-awareness, enabling them to better cope with challenges and improve their spiritual wellbeing.
- When dealing with the disease of alcoholism we are selfish and self-centered beings.
And although not everyone has a problem with drugs or alcohol, every person reading this right now is touched in varying degrees by some form of obsessiveness affecting them in very negative ways. It is disturbing their lives and holding them back from full peace and security. In these times personal threat load is extremely high and is being reflected in systemic dysfunction. In fact, the world’s threat load is extremely high and it, too, is being reflected in systemic dysfunction.
Trauma and PTSD Symptoms: Does Spiritual Struggle Mediate the Link?
We also house traumatic memories in the threat centers of our brains that are slightly different than predictive codes as they may bubble up to awareness or into nightmarish dreams. In general, humans, like most species, have four fundamental or primary phenotypes (even these can be subdivided), or genetic expressions, that are reflected in our chemical soup, mitochondria, cells, tissues, organs, emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and relationships. 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.
Spiritual health involves nurturing an interest in nature, and respecting the delicate balance of the natural world. There is one decision that we make, that leads to a continuous unfolding of decision-less choices on the path of life. That path is always right, and there are no wrong turns – just different experiences. Spiritual awakenings don’t necessarily happen the way we might expect, along a timeline we prefer, or in a form obvious to us.
Alcoholics Anonymous’ 12-Step Program
There was a trend toward a significant difference between the groups for the subscales of spiritual struggle. Participants were categorized into trauma and non-trauma groups based on interim trauma exposure. If a participant endorsed on the TLEQ at Time 2 having experienced an event at least one time and endorsed the follow-up question indicating fear, helplessness, or horror in response to the event, he or she was considered to have experienced trauma. If at Time 2 a participant endorsed only an event on the CSLES, or endorsed an event on the TLEQ but reported no fear, helplessness, or horror in response, he or she was categorized into the non-trauma group. Baseline PTSD symptoms were assessed at Time 1 in response to a prior traumatic or stressful event. Interim traumatic and stressful events were assessed at Time 2, followed by subsequent spiritual struggle and PTSD symptoms.
These feelings can become unmanageable – more on the unmanageability of life for alcoholics below. There are also many great detox facilities in Glenwood Springs that can help people get the physical component of addiction out of their system and under control. This also includes creating addiction relapse prevention plans so that the first drink is never taken, and thus, https://trading-market.org/nutrition-guide-for-addiction-recovery/ the physical allergy is never triggered. Another way to address the spiritual malady and heal in Glenwood Springs is to connect to some of its amazing recovery communities. This includes 12-Step communities that offer meetings that can help people discover what spirituality means to them. There is also a vibrant recovery community in the nearby urban hub of Denver.
Thoughts of Recovery – No.17 – The Spiritual Malady – Step 1
However, given the times we are in, I find myself compelled to vault forward to the spiritual. Now, many people find the idea of spirituality in recovery offputting. This is because many people have had negative experiences with various religions or religious concepts in their youth. The good news is that spirituality and religion do not have to overlap in recovery. For example, a concept in 12-Step recovery is that spirituality can be faith in anything that is not oneself. That is why they say “Higher Power of your understanding” rather than God.
We are told that it is perfectly legitimate for believers to suffer grief. Though grief may reach to the roots of our souls, it must not result in bitterness. Grief is a legitimate emotion, at times even a virtue, but there must be no place in the soul for bitterness. In like manner, we see that it is a good thing to go to the house of mourning, but even in mourning, that low feeling must not give way to hatred. Boston Sober Homes The presence of faith gives no guarantee of the absence of spiritual depression; however, the dark night of the soul always gives way to the brightness of the noonday light of the presence of God. Is describing, essentially is referring to a stark void in our lives that we constantly attempt to fill with outside things such as drugs, alcohol, sex, shopping, or anything we can think to try to feel better.