The series explores the book SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION by Dr. George E. Vaillant. The author was a psychiatrist at Harvard and served as a non-alcoholic Trustee for Alcoholics Anonymous. Spirituality can be a hard concept to grasp, and his book helps make it understandable. He defines spirituality as the realization of positive emotions such as love, hope, faith, joy, forgiveness, and compassion – along with awe and mystical illumination. The author argues our brains are hard wired for these and through the 12 Step journey, we’re evolving – “sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly” towards realizing them in our lives This episode focuses on the quality of JOY in the spiritual life of a recovering addict.

If you want to locate and feel JOY in your soul, be sure to watch and listen to the 5-minute YouTube video “Ode to Joy” linked below. “If you can spot it, you got it!”

Show Notes:

Spiritual Evolution: A Scientific Defense of Faith by George Vaillant

Video: Ode to Joy on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbJcQYVtZMo