Category Archives: Sober living

The spiritual malady, however, can be seen as an inward unmanageability. It affects every aspect of our lives and must be overcome if we wish to fix ourselves mentally and physically. This spiritual malady, or spiritual disconnection, is the driving force behind our addiction and self-destructive behaviors. Without addressing this spiritual malady, we have absolutely no hope for intrinsic change or recovery. 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. The only solution to a spiritual malady is a spiritual awakening.

• It’s really not my mind — the mental obsession — that is the underlying root of what will take me back to drinking.
• My spiritual health is excellent when I realize that the better I get, the more I discover how much help I need from others.
• Through our spiritual connection, we finally are given the power to overcome the disease and live happy, joyous, and free lives in sobriety.

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. Spiritually, we have adifficult time connectingto a higher power. It is common to find yourself being angry at God or saying things like “if God was real this wouldn’t have happened to me” or not understanding why things are the way they are.

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The desire to avoid connection with the spiritual aspects of the self are embedded in the nature of addiction. The avoidance of spirituality keeps the addict in addiction long after the desire to return to whole and healthy living is sparked. It is in this essence of anticipation of the future, and what it is imagined to hold, that stops so many from living the purpose they were born to live. 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. Many of us felt that there was something wrong with us or something missing—in short, we felt different from other people. We https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/what-spiritual-malady-means/ couldn’t understand why the people surrounding us could feel happiness or contentment, so we turned to drugs and alcohol as a means of self-medicating our perceived shortcomings. From our time spent feeding our addictions, we feel that the opposite begins to happen.

Understanding What a Spiritual Malady Is

For some people, nature or the universe might be their Higher Power. One of the great things about AA is that it’s flexible – you can make it work for you, even if you don’t believe in God. So, instead of fixating on the parts of the program that don’t work for you, focus on the things that do.

Just an attempt to stimulate thought or discussion and provide information based on my study and experience. Today I look further at the disease of alcoholism focusing on it as a spiritual malady. 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.

The Spiritual Malady

If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer.” We embark upon a journey of recovery that allows us to develop a deep spiritual connection. Through our spiritual connection, we finally are given the power to overcome the disease and live happy, joyous, and free lives in sobriety. 12 Step recovery focuses on a spiritual solution to the problem of addiction and alcoholism. As explained in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, “we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically.” When men and women look inwardly, the spiritual component of the disease becomes apparent. To conclude, it’s not my body — my allergic reaction to alcohol — that’s going to take me back to drinking.