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. Even if https://g-markets.net/sober-living/how-to-cure-boredom-7-ways-to-stop-being-bored/ you don’t believe in God right now, it’s important to keep an open mind. Things may change over time, and you never know when or how your beliefs might evolve.
- They also experience an ineffable quality from becoming spiritual – one where their feelings go beyond mere words.
- 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.
- 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.
- This is one of the reasons that Big Book study groups have become so popular among recovering alcoholics.
Although the disease has biological, behavioral, and psychological roots, treating those aspects, without including the spiritual component, is like sticking a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. To recognize and to admit my weaknesses is the beginning of good spiritual health. UK construction dives amid housebuilding slump and HS2 pause Construction industry It is a sign of spiritual health to be able to ask God every day to enlighten me, to recognize His will, and to have the strength to execute it. My spiritual health is excellent when I realize that the better I get, the more I discover how much help I need from others.
Filling the Hole: Fixing the Spiritual Malady
Allow yourself to feel the strength and support that comes from knowing that there is something bigger than yourself out there rooting for your success. 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. 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 God?
- I am also starting to be creative again in hopes that will help.
- The AA Big Book talks about this delusion we develop in active addiction.
- Journaling is a simple but powerful way to process your grief and get it all out in a physical, tangible form.
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. 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 https://accountingcoaching.online/alcohol-brain-fog-how-to-heal-your-brain/ we suffer from as alcoholics. As addicts we can become so focused on the outward form our addiction takes – whether that booze, drugs, sex, overeating, etc. – that we overlook its deep roots at the core of our being. This spiritual malady is the restless spirit, the soul sickness that if left untreated will begin to ooze symptoms of emotional insecurity worry, anger, self-pity, and depression, even if we have been sober for years.