Connecting to inner and outer worlds and living by one’s values and purpose are also vital. Spiritual awakening in AA often begins with Step 3, which involves deciding to turn one’s will and life over to a higher power. Living by spiritual principles as outlined in the 12 Steps can help alleviate the symptoms of spiritual malady and promote spiritual growth. When left unresolved, a spiritual malady will continue to lead to restlessness, irritability, and discontentment. It can also lead to other problems, such as alcohol abuse or other addictions.
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States of America, suffered from severe depression throughout his life. Despite his achievements, he remained haunted by profound feelings of sadness and hopelessness. His struggle reminds us that we may face spiritual malady despite our professional success or achievements. A Pro Tip to alleviate this condition is to practice mindfulness and meditation, allowing for the release of negative thoughts and emotions, paving the way for a deeper spiritual awakening. Find out how to recognize, understand, and treat this common condition.
Empirical data also demonstrates that our sense of compassion increases measurably when we can find commonality and connection with others. Compassion radiates whenever we can connect with another through shared experience. The more we can open our hearts with the awareness that suffering, failure, and imperfection are universal to the human experience, the more we are capable practicing compassion for others and for ourselves. Each time we wake up from a modus operandi state of unconscious reflexive autopilot thinking and reacting and become Drug rehabilitation mindfully aware of our internal and external experience, there is an awakening of spirit.
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. It doesn’t matter what your Higher Power is; what matters is that you believe in something that can help guide what is a spiritual malady and support you on your journey to recovery. In sobriety, it is so important to maintain consciouscontact with a higher powerand count our blessings. Being spiritually maladapted can come from a lack of gratitude. 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. This is the type ofspiritually maladapted behaviorthat we typically exhibit in active alcoholism.
The specific directions in the first 102 pages of the book Alcoholic Anonymous. The spiritual malady is the result of my being out of order with my higher power who I choose to call God. I was the director in the drama of life and managing the world so I could get what I thought I needed to feel ok. Fear and resentment dominated my thoughts and I made decisions based on self which caused me harm and harmed others. On page 62 the text explains that “Selfishness-self-centeredness! Acknowledging that spiritual malady is not the same as religious inadequacy is essential.