What a privilege it is to see them transcend their problems. The practice of love and service to others has been the panacea that sets me free from the scourge of the eight bedevilments. 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.

• There is no church you must attend or strict practices you must adhere to in organized worship of said higher power, it is a completely individual and personal experience.
• This spiritual malady, or spiritual disconnection, is the driving force behind our addiction and self-destructive behaviors.
• The practice of love and service to others has been the panacea that sets me free from the scourge of the eight bedevilments.
• This could be the power of nature, the universe, or even something as simple as your cats or dogs at home – perhaps their love for you and the fact that they need you to be sober is your Higher Power.
• We must live our lives selflessly and show our gratitude to a higher power for the lives that we live and the opportunity to have a second chance at life.

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. After completing the first nine https://en.forexdata.info/the-missing-piece-the-spiritual-malady/ steps, I was finally able to come off antidepressants. The program has empowered me to have a healthy relationship for the first time. The program helped me embark on a career I loved and stayed in for thirty years. Whenever I am asked to sponsor another alcoholic, I experience a sense of joy.

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Once we are aware of these feelings, we can begin the real work on ourselves. It is not easy to do so but recognizing this aspect of alcoholism forces us to take an honest look in the mirror at our behaviors and attitudes toward life and other people. Anxiousness, depression, and boredom are a few other factors that contribute to being spiritually maladapted.

The reader likely won’t be motivated to live in the solution the book offers unless they can first find their specific story in the problem. If you are seeking drug and alcohol related addiction rehab for yourself or a loved one, the YourFirstStep.org hotline is a confidential and convenient solution. In AA, God is often referred to as a Higher Power. It doesn’t have to be religious – it can be anything that gives you strength and hope. For some people, nature or the universe might be their Higher Power.

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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. Finding a Higher Power is an essential part of Alcoholics Anonymous, but what if you don’t believe in TOP 10 BEST Sober Living Homes in Boston, MA January 2024 God? You’re not alone – there are plenty of people in AA who don’t believe in God, or who have trouble with the concept of a higher power. Without a connection to a higher power, it can get quite ugly in sobriety. You know, to be recognized as the number one factor in the cause of alcoholism and, consequently it’s treatment.

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.