A Spiritual Experience or a Spiritual Awakening?

“The terms “spiritual experience” and “spiritual awakening” are used many times in this book which, upon careful reading, shows that the personality change sufficient to bring about recovery from alcoholism has manifested itself among us in many different forms.  Yet it is true that our first printing gave many readers the impression that these personality changes, or religious experiences, must be in the nature of sudden and spectacular upheavals. Happily for everyone, this conclusion is erroneous. In the first few chapters a number of sudden revolutionary changes are described. Though it was not our intention to create such an impression, many alcoholics have nevertheless concluded that in order to recover they must acquire an immediate and overwhelming  “God-consciousness” followed at once by a vast change in feeling and outlook. Among our rapidly growing membership of thousands of alcoholics such transformations, though frequent, are by no means the rule.” Appendix ll Spiritual Experience from the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous

While a spiritual experience is necessary the first place to start is by seeking alcohol addiction help and working the steps. When we go to a 30 day rehab program, AA, or drug addiction detox we are given the tools necessary to do the work required of us in order to have a spiritual experience and stay sober. Many alcoholics in recovery are waiting for that burning bush experience. Sometimes when we are new and hear the word spiritual experience we expect that we will be smacked down with spirituality and fixed. That is not the case. Have there been some people who have claimed to have that experience? Yes! But there is also the spiritual experience of the subtle variety. The fact that over time we get better in itself is amazing. At some point in our recovery we are able to look back at the changes that have occurred in our lives, the emotional recovery, and an entire psychic change that has happened to us all of this combined is a spiritual experience. If you stick around you too will be able to have one and share in the gifts, joy, happiness, and freedom that comes from this life.

Finding Freedom in Steps Four and Five

“Having made our personal inventory, what shall we do about it? We have been trying to get a new attitude, a new relationship with our creator, and to discover the obstacles in our path. We have admitted certain defect; we have ascertained in a rough way what the trouble is; we have put our finger on the weak times in our personal inventory. Now these are about to be cast out. This requires action on our part, which, when completed, will mean that we have admitted to god, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our defects. This brings us to the fifth step in the program of recovery mentioned in the preceding chapter. This is perhaps difficult- especially discussing our defects with another person. We think we have done well enough in admitting these things to ourselves”. – Pg.72 Into Action from the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous

Looking at the things we have done prior to receiving alcohol addiction help as well as sharing it with another person can be terrifying. Many of us have done things we are so ashamed of that we swear we will take them to the grave. With that being said the main hope is that by the time we get to this step there has been a good amount of time sober and we have done the work in a drug addiction detox, AA, or 30 day rehab program so that despite our fears we are able to walk through them, do this step, and come out the other side. Within the fourth and fifth step lies huge relief and freedom. It is these steps that allow us to overcome anything and be okay with who we are and what we have done in the past. These are the steps that show us not only how to forgive other but also how to forgive ourselves.

What Programs Do We Offer

Above It All Treatment Center provides a multidisciplinary approach to facilitate recovery from addiction and alcoholism. Comprehensive chemical dependency treatment services can offer a structured therapeutic environment that begins with the detoxification/withdrawal process and extends through aftercare planning following residential treatment.

Drug Treatment Program Methods

Therapeutic interventions include individual or group counseling and psychotherapy, and treatment services are usually provided by trained, certified professional therapists. Most therapeutic intervention programs rely on cognitive-based therapy which addresses irrational thinking and attempts to restructure thought processes.

Support groups are usually conducted by a member of a recovery group with the assistance of prepared materials by a national organization. The most well-known support groups are Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Most support groups are modeled on the Twelve Steps of AA and rely on faith in a “higher power” to assist in achieving goals.

Drug and Alcohol Detoxification – Detox programs are treatment programs of planned withdrawal which may or may not include medication to assist in withdrawal. Length of detoxification depends on the substance ingested and the methods used for detoxification. Detoxification without other treatment has not been found to be effective in maintaining sobriety.

Treatment and Detoxification Protocols – OxyContin® is a powerful drug that contains a much larger amount of the active ingredient, oxycodone, than other prescription opiate pain relievers. While most people who take OxyContin as prescribed do not become addicted, those who abuse their pain medication or obtain it illegally may find themselves becoming rapidly dependent on, if not addicted to, the drug. Two types of treatment have been documented as effective for opioid addiction. One is a long-term, residential, therapeutic community type of treatment and the other is long-term, medication-assisted outpatient treatment. Clinical trials using medications to treat opioid addiction have generally included subjects addicted to diverted pharmaceutical opioids as well as to illicit heroin. Therefore, there is no medical reason to suppose that the patient addicted to diverted pharmaceutical opioids will be any less likely to benefit from medication-assisted treatment than the patient addicted to heroin. Some opioid-addicted patients with very good social supports may occasionally be able to benefit from antagonist maintenance with naltrexone. This treatment works best if the patient is highly motivated to participate in treatment and has been adequately detoxed from the opioid of abuse. Most opioid-addicted patients in outpatient therapy, however, will do best with medication that is either an agonist or a partial agonist. Methadone and levo alpha acetyl methadol (LAAM) are the two agonist medications currently approved for addiction treatment in this country. Presently there is no partial agonist approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in narcotic treatment, although buprenorphine holds great promise. The guidelines for treating OxyContin addiction or dependency are basically no different than the guidelines the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) uses for treating addiction or dependency to ANY opioid.

How Can We Help With Your Alcohol Addiction

Anyone who indulges in alcohol is at risk of doing major damage not only to his body but to his family as well. There are instances when a person who abuses the drink is left all alone for the family to deal with and they don’t know how to deal with a person who uses the substances.

Above It All Treatment Center has a variety of programs that they undertake to ensure that the person who is seeking help is given total and whole treatment that addresses the entire body, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. When a person goes anywhere for help, it is good if all the issues are dealt with for then the person feels healed from the inside-out.

At Above It All Treatment Center, they do this by having a program that addresses first the cleansing of the body, known as detoxing. When a person is detoxing, all the harmful toxins are removed from the system and the system waits for a better and fulfilling course of treatment to commence. Our bodies are machines that take in what we feed them and if we continue feeding them the wrong things, they deteriorate and become completely useless.

After detox, a person undergoes a rigorous process known as withdrawal. This is the process that makes many not want to seek help in the first place. The process has symptoms that are not favorable, including chills, sweating, mood swings, and others. The ones who seek help for their addictions are given prior warnings by the counselors on the effects of the substances leaving their bodies.

After one has gone through all of the above processes, they are supplied with good things that include good nutrition and exercise. The nutritional classes address the foods that one had been neglecting when one was under the control of alcohol and then give ways of how much is good and bad for a system that is recovering from the effects of alcohol addiction.

It is prudent to feed the body foods from all the basic food groups, for missing one food group is detrimental for one’s health and growth. Rehab centers have a rigorous program that addresses the physical being, meaning that one goes through a taxing yet beneficial process of exercises that are meant to strengthen the joints and muscles.

A body that is used to having toxins day in and day out is usually as strong as that of a two year old and it is paramount that one regains the use of his limbs for better health and longevity. Imagine growing old when one is a vegetable: it would be better being dead than live like that. Above It All Treatment Center has taken it upon themselves to ensure that they are able to help a few people at a time who are willing to be rid of the addiction.

Getting Help When You Cannot Stop Drinking

“At a certain point in the drinking of every alcoholic, he passes into a state where the most powerful desire to stop drinking is of no avail. This tragic situation has already arrived in practically every case long before it is suspected. The fact is that most alcoholics, for some reason yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink. The certain consequences that follow taking even a glass of beer do not crowd into the mind to deter us.” – Pg. 24 There Is A Solution, the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous

Many of us are completely beat down by this disease long before we realize we have a problem and need alcohol addiction help. At this point have lost our ability to control and enjoy our drinking and the days of social drinking and fun nights have become a distant memory. After years of drinking we are most likely at a place where we lost the choice to drink or not and are simply drinking because we have to. It has become our medicine and solution. Our only hope for a way out of this “tragic situation” is to go to a rehab that takes insurance, AA , or some other form of drug addiction detox. It is only after we get help and recover that we are able to do the work it takes to heal the wreckage we have caused in ours and others lives. If we are fortunate to get this far then we have a fighting chance at having an amazing life and reaping the benefits/blessings that a life in sobriety has to offer.

The Alcoholic Inability to Control Drinking

“Some drinkers have excuses with which they are satisfied part of the time. But in their hearts they really do not know why they do it. Once this malady has a real hold, they are a baffled lot. There is the obsession that somehow, someday, they will beat the game. But they often suspect they are down for the count. How true this is, few realize. In a vague way their families and friends sense that these drinkers are abnormal, but everybody hopefully awaits the day when the sufferer will rouse himself from his lethargy and assert his power of will. The tragic truth is that if the man be a real alcoholic, the happy day may not arrive. He has lost control.” – Pg.23 -24 There Is A Solution, the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous

The fact is that we as alcoholics do not know why we take that first drink, can’t stop, and need alcohol addiction help in order to get sober any more than the next person does. It feels at times like we are beating our heads against a brick wall by doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. We see the wreckage that is a direct result of our drinking yet we cannot seem to put the bottle down. Perhaps it’s the obsession that we can eventually drink normally combined with the phenomenon of craving that keeps us going. Our thoughts more than anything are a lethal combination that keeps us entangled in this disease and we have no hope of recovering until we go to a drug addiction detox, AA, or an affordable rehab. As it states in this excerpt from there is a solution “the happy day may not arrive”. Many of us do not make it but if you recognize that you might have a problem, and are willing to get help then you have a fighting chance at beating this disease and living happy, joyous, and free.

Alcoholism and the Mind

“We know that while the alcoholic keeps away from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like other men. We are equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for him to stop. The experience of any alcoholic will abundantly confirm this. These observations would be academic and pointless if our friend never took the first drink, thereby starting the cycle in motion. Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body. If you ask him why he started on that last bender, the chances are he will offer you any one of a hundred alibis. Sometimes these excuses have certain plausibility, but none of them really makes sense in the light of the havoc alcoholics drinking bout creates.” – pg. 22-23 There Is A Solution from the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous

As it states in the big book alcoholism is a disease that centers in the mind and not in the body. If the phenomenon of craving, followed by the mental mindset that takes place were not present and it was purely a bodily problem then we could just stop drinking and would never need to go to a 30 day rehab program, AA, or  drug addiction detox because we would be able to control our drinking with willpower alone. This disease is not a matter of being weak willed but rather we suffer from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. Because of this we need to seek out alcohol addiction help in order to recover. If we do get help and do the work needed to stay sober we have a chance of clearing up the wreckage of our past, repairing broken relationships, and we can go onto live an amazing life full of joy, love, excitement, happiness, fun and freedom .

Self-Destructive Patterns of Alcoholism

“He may be one of the finest fellows in the world. Yet let him drink for a day, and he frequently becomes disgustingly, and even dangerously anti-social. He has a positive genius for getting tight at exactly the wrong moment, particularly when some important decision must be made or engagement kept. He is often perfectly sensible and well balanced concerning everything except liquor, but in that respect he is incredibly dishonest and selfish. He often possesses special abilities, skills, and aptitudes, and has a promising career ahead of him. He uses his gifts to build up a bright outlook for his family and himself. And then pulls the structure down on his head by a senseless series of sprees. He is the fellow who goes to bed so intoxicated he ought to sleep the clock around. Yet early next morning he searches madly for the bottle he misplaced the night before.” – Pg.21 – There Is A Solution from the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous

If any of this rings true for you then you might need alcohol addiction help. There are many services available ranging anywhere from drug addiction detox to AA, and 30 day rehab programs. This excerpt from there is a solution is a perfect description of the alcoholic’s life when they are wrapped up in the bondage of this disease as well as the destruction that is a result of it. We become extremely introverted, our world becomes very small, and we are left spiritually bankrupt. These alcoholic characteristics and patterns end up robbing us of everything good in our lives and we are left with no choice but to keep drinking, and give up or get sober. If we are lucky enough to get sober then we have the opportunity to turn it all around, start over, and get back to our true selves. We are finally able to be the loving, honest, responsible, happy, joyous, and free beings that we were meant to be.

Working With Another Alcoholic

“If you are satisfied that he is a real alcoholic, begin to dwell on the hopeless feature of the malady. Show him, from your own experience, how the queer mental condition surrounding that first drink prevents normal functioning of the will power. Don’t, at this stage, refer to this book, unless he has seen it and wishes to discuss it. And be careful not to brand him as an alcoholic. Let him draw his own conclusion. If he sticks to the idea that he can still control his drinking, tell him that possibly he can- if he is not too alcoholic. But insist that if he is severely afflicted, there may be little chance he can recover by himself. Continue to speak of alcoholism as an illness, a fatal malady. Talk about the conditions of body and mind which accompany it.” – Pg.92 Working With Others, from the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous

When talking to people about this disease and the potential need for alcohol addiction help it is important that we don’t preach or recite lines from the big book. Instead we can share our experience, strength, and hope and talk about their options as far as a drug addiction detox, AA, 30 day rehab program, and other treatment options are concerned. We are there to be of service not to try and convince the person that they are an alcoholic and need help. It is also imperative that we do not diagnose others for it is necessary that we come to that conclusion on our own. Within this realization come enough pain, desperation, surrender, and willingness to get us to do the work needed to get and stay sober. It is only when we are standing at that turning point in our lives that we have a fighting chance at recovery. It is a life full of promise, hope, and joy and we would not want to rob anyone of this journey.

Being Free of Anger and Resentment in Sobriety

“If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch and the brainstorm were not for us. They may be the dubious luxury of normal men, but for alcoholics these things are poison. We turned back to the list for it held the key to the future. We prepared to look for it from an entirely different angle. We began to see that the world and its people really dominated us. In that state, the wrong-doing of others, fancied or real, had power to actually kill. How could we escape? We saw that these resentments must be mastered, but how? We could not wish them away say more than alcohol. This was our course: We realized that the people who wronged us were perhaps spiritually sick. Though we did not like their symptoms and the way these disturbed us, they, like ourselves, were sick too.”- pg. 66- 67 How It Works from the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous

We hear time and time again that resentment is the number one offender. It takes more alcoholics out and keeps more alcoholics from seeking alcohol addiction help than anything else. If we are to live a happy, joyous, and free life we must learn to rid ourselves of our resentments and let go. In a 30 day rehab program, AA, drug addiction detox, or sober livings we learn how to turn everything over to a power greater than ourselves, as well as forgive. It is important that we are able to forgive ourselves and others for the wrongs done to us or that we have done. Forgiveness happens when we let go of the hope that we can change the past. If we are able to stay in the moment most of the time then we will have an easier time dealing with ourselves and others because when we are living in the present we are able to have enough clarity to see that while we may not always get what we want or at least what we think we want we always get what we need.