Spend enough time in the rooms and you’ll start to hear a lot about “spiritual awakenings” – almost as much as you’ll hear about their opposite, “rock bottom!”
The phrase might make you think about lightning bolts, angels, or rainbows in the clouds.
And while a spiritual awakening might involve some – or even all – of those, the actual experience of it can be much simpler.
The Big Book of AA describes a “spiritual experience” or “awakening” as plainly as “the personality change sufficient to bring about recovery.” If you really think about it, transforming from an obsessed addict into a clean and sober person IS pretty miraculous.
While some people have “sudden and spectacular upheavals,” the book says, most “develop slowly over a period of time.”
If you’re not sure whether you’ve had one, the Big Book explains that a spiritual experience involves the discovery of an “unsuspected inner resource,” the ability to “identify with a power greater than” yourself.
Some people call that “God-consciousness,” but it doesn’t have to be a religious matter.
Basically, it means that your life is now guided by something BESIDES the desire to get drunk or high.
Is a spiritual experience in the cards for you? If you work the steps, it’s pretty much guaranteed.
But it’s important not to get too caught up in waiting for your big “a-ha moment” or wondering whether you’ve already had a spiritual awakening and just missed it.
If you stay honest, open-minded, willing, and work the steps, spiritual experiences could become a way of life for you, one day at a time.
For more information about how to build a life in recovery, contact our staff today!