what is spiritual malady

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. It simply means we are spiritually blocked off from the Power of God, which enables us to remain sober, happy, joyous, and free. The 12 Steps of AA are formulated to tackle and rectify spiritual malady, fostering spiritual awakening and recovery.

Finding We Matter: Through Our Service to Others

  • I, of late, have experienced Disconnect, due to health, emotional, spiritual pain.
  • Adam Vibe Gunton is an American author, speaker and thought leader in addiction treatment and recovery.
  • Anyone can be spiritually maladapted, but as an alcoholic, we use alcohol to deal with having a spiritual malady.
  • For many spiritual wanderers, spiritual healing becomes a regular part of their spiritual awakening path.

By addressing this spiritual disease through connection with a higher power, the 12 Steps, and professional help, individuals can find a path to lasting sobriety and holistic healing. A connection with a higher power is intrinsically tied to overcoming spiritual malady. Addiction is not only a disease of the brain but also of the spirit, highlighting the critical role of spiritual healing in recovery. In the 12-Step Program, integrating a higher power into our lives is a cornerstone of combating addiction.

what is spiritual malady

How do I handle my spiritual malady if I don’t believe in God?

These core beliefs make it harder for us to connect with a god of our understanding. A spiritual malady is a deep-seated inner conflict that leads to restlessness, irritability, and discontentment. It is a sense of “otherness” that keeps us from feeling at peace with ourselves and the world around us. 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.

what is spiritual malady

Professional Help for Spiritual Malady and Addiction

  • Our brains are constantly searching to see if we are safe or threatened and this subaware mechanism fine tunes the system based on the incoming information.
  • Being spiritually maladapted can come from a lack of gratitude.
  • This internal battle can make the path to healing and change even more challenging.
  • This total surrender of one’s ego is essential for finding relief from the burdens of addiction.
  • This is frequently referred to as “fight and flight” physiology.

This means those things that are not solid- such as our thoughts, our beliefs, our emotions- are what is spiritual. When we say that alcoholism or drug addiction is ‘a spiritual malady’, it means that our disease in centered in these things (thoughts, beliefs, emotions). This very much https://ecosoberhouse.com/ resonates for me, as one who has suffered intense anxiety. I spent my whole life as a self-improvement project and spiritual seeker, desperately trying to find ways to fix myself. Turning within is so difficult, as is forgiving myself, but that’s where the real healing has been.

Spiritual Healing and Spiritual Awakening

This connection with a power greater than ourselves is not necessarily religious but is about finding a profound spiritual grounding. Spiritual threats can come in the form of emotional threat or injury. We can experience emotional attacks, assaults, accidents, or abuse that affect our physiology similar to a physical threat or injury. Social threat and injury are other forms of spiritual threat and injury that are particularly toxic to humans.

The Spiritual Malady: A Hole in the Soul

I’ve done so much healing and awareness that I’m ready to have fun hoping it leads me to my passion of service to others and empowering them to heal also, healrhy and pure loving connections. The spiritual malady in Alcoholics Anonymous refers to a profound sense of disconnection and unrest that drives many alcoholics to seek solace in alcohol and other substances. It reflects a deep need for spiritual healing and connection.

what is spiritual malady

The only way to heal that blistering sore is to face it, accept it, and find ways of alleviating your suffering – not as a way of trying to escape your reality – but as a form of self-love. Engaging in acts of service is a powerful way to foster empathy, strengthen spiritual foundations, and counteract spiritual malady feelings of isolation. Caring for others and acting for the welfare of the community are signs of spiritual wellness. Volunteering time and resources to help those in need can build empathy and provide a sense of belonging and purpose, while also helping us understand our emotional natures.

what is spiritual malady

The huge burden that humans bear is the ability to contemplate our own annihilation—death. This biases our system towards threat physiology and plays a significant role in our health and wellness. As we are an inherently spiritual species, we frequently fear a spiritual death as much as a physical death. Failure to recognize the effects of all of our existential worries, big and small, leads to all kinds of mishaps and trouble for our species. When we are under threat, we create a bias towards negative, selfish, aggressive and prejudiced thoughts. When being chased by a tiger it is helpful to think “danger”, react quickly, judge without contemplation, defend and protect one’s self.

Thoughts of Recovery – No.17 – The Spiritual Malady – Step 1