Question about a "spiritual awakening"
DOS: 11/6/10
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Florida Panhandle, USA
Posts: 736
Originally Posted by BP44 
The only people who want burning bush spiritual experiences are folks who have never had them. I am grateful that God has come to me gently.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: PA
Posts: 89
I have only been to 2 AA meetings (still not sure it is for me) but define my SA as the day I woke up and realized it was time to come clean with myself and those around me that my drinking was out of control and it was time to get help...not tomorrow not next week but TODAY. It was July 2, 2010 and it was the first day of the rest of my sober life!!!
Sobriety Date: Feb 2009
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Osaka, Jpn
Posts: 389
Originally Posted by artsoul
It seems to me, if I can generalize a bit (well, a lot), there's a real common thread here. It's not about finding religion or being zapped by a Higher Power. It's about what happens when we're active in recovery: feeling new life and hope again, being our true selves, and reconnecting with others. It's about acceptance, discovering the spirit within us and finding contentment in that. All of that makes a whole lotta sense to me.
Grouch and Brainstorm
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 238
Can I conclude that spiritual awakenings are the promises in Big Book?
So, "we will be amazed before we are halfway through [our amends, step 9]we will know a new freedom and happiness"...etc...
The AA text is clear that the promises are a result of making amends.
Is that a spiritual awakening? Absolutely. But the magic of the promises are a result of specific action.
Grouch and Brainstorm
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 238
Originally Posted by BP44
The only people who want burning bush spiritual experiences are folks who have never had them. I am grateful that God has come to me gently.
Its_me_jen
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Salina, Ks
Posts: 8,547
Originally Posted by artsoul
So I'm just wondering what people mean when they talk about a spiritual experience or awakening in AA....... I hear it a lot here, but no real descriptions of what it is. 
For me I think it was when I prayed honestly and humbly for the first time ever ..... 2 minutes after my prayer the phone rang and I got my answer. It hasn't happened like that since and I don't expect it to but it sure opened my eyes. I finally came to believe that a power greater than myself could restore me to sanity ..... that I didn't have to do it alone. I finally felt a calm and a peace that I had longed for all my life. I didn't feel alone anymore. I still have my days ..... but it helps me to remember how I felt that day.
I believe my spiritual awakening has been a process, and will continue to be .... that answered prayer was just a beginning. Small things have continued to happen in my life over the last year and half that help me be more spiritually aware. It's constant growth for me and I have to work on it every day. Hopefully, tomorrow, I'll be even more spiritual.
Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Leaving Sparta
Posts: 2,912
For me a "Spiritual Awakening" was slowly coming to believe and to understanding that there were forces at work in the Universe "Greater than myself" for which there is no scientific explanation
Sobriety Date: Feb 2009
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Osaka, Jpn
Posts: 389
Lately I've got some spiritual awakening on me.
- I talk to my mum with smile and respect, I used to hate her attitude.
- I began to get up early in the morning.
- I meditate every night before sleep.
- Dinner is always yum.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: The Present
Posts: 425
For me spiritual awakening in sobriety has been awakening to the knowledge that the spirituality has always been there. Because of alcohol it lay dormant for a long time. When I think of true spirituality, I think of little things, like the singing sound of silence and the spaciousness that is actually within and around us. Meditation has helped me realize the absolute importance of awareness and that awareness itself is a major starting point of recovery.
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