What Spirituality Means to You
Good day ladies….Nachelle: alcoholic. This week I would like to discuss spirituality, our higher powers. We say that AA is a spiritual program…what does that mean to you? How has spirituality changed for you?
As for me…I believe spirituality is different for each person. There are probably 7 billion different ideas about this in the World! I was raised with a very strict, dogmatic religion. I know my parents were doing what they thought was right but at 16 I rebelled hard. I struggled for many years to figure this out. I had a hard time making sense of it all. I explored and researched many different faiths and belief systems. I found it all fascinating historically and culturally but couldn’t see how it applied to my life. I got drunker and drunker.
I knew when I came back to AA I would have to keep step 2 and step 3 simple. I couldn’t complicate it. So I started with asking the “Universe” for help in the morning and thank you at night. My spiritual journey began. I have met many people in AA and with my job I have been to meetings in Canada, USA, Belize, Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador, Portugal, Thailand, India. All very diverse Countries and different belief systems and that’s the beauty of AA….it’s INCLUSIVE!!!!!! Any higher power or God/Goddess will do. Even atheists and agnostics. I know that when I came in, my perceptions and thinking was so messed up and I was so self absorbed. The concept of getting out of myself and being a part of this World was refreshing. No one told me what to believe in, I was told to find my own truth. That was very important to me. If I’d been told what to believe, I would have left….and probably not drawn another sober breath. Today I have come to peace with the religion of my childhood and see the positives in it, I respect a great many religions and philosophies. My journey has led me to some fascinating ideas and people. I know that it will continue as long as I keep an open mind.
My higher power is more what I don’t understand…and today that is ok. I try to be content to live in the question. As some call is “the great mystery”. I believe to keep AA a safe, inclusive place we need to continue to discuss our spirituality in a general way. Keeping our arguments for or against any religion out of our meetings. As step 2 says in the 12 & 12, we resigned from the debating society.
Today my HP speaks through life circumstances, trusted friends, AA meetings. spiritual books and the more I pray & meditate, the more inspiration comes to me in the quiet and my intuition. I am grateful today for my quiet times of prayer and meditation and all the interesting things I’ve learned and people I have met on this spiritual quest. AA is my foundation.
For many years alcohol (and other unhealthy stuff) was my higher power, my God. I knew when I was new I needed to replace this. If you’re new here…I encourage you to keep this matter simple. Find your own truth, pray and hang on.
It does work!
Feel free to share about what spirituality means in your sobriety or anything you need to.
Thanks for letting me chair!