Recovery Good Questions Here is a simple question that has helped me numerous times: how important is it? Asking myself this helps me reframe how I …
Literature Sponsoring Working the Program Modified Study Guide I wanted to share with the Fellowship how much I appreciate the Twelve Step Workshop and Study Guide and how I have used it.…
Fellowship Literature Literature Prices and Postage I’m a member of a virtual group, and neither my current hometown nor the place I’m planning to move to has an OA presence. M…
Recovery Whittling Down to Normal “I ate when I was anxious, fearful, lonely, or tired” (Voices of Recovery, p. 254). I can add more to that list: I ate when …
Higher Power Spirituality Steps Spiritual Rewrite I was complaining recently to my sponsor about the religious language of the Eleventh Step Prayer (AA Twelve Steps and Twelv…
Sponsoring Steps Working the Program So Much Better Nearly every day, I fill out a Tenth Step form. This was something my sponsor gave me a few weeks after I entered program ev…
Spirituality Steps Working the Program Self-Amends Prayer As a part of making amends to myself, which was suggested by my sponsor, I created the following prayer. The prayer lists po…
Recovery The Tiniest of Cracks A couple of months ago, I had an evening when I was feeling so much frustration, irritation, resentment, and disconnection f…
Recovery Stepping Up from Fear One of my favorite passages from the OA Twelve and Twelve is this from Step Five: “Most of us find that fear is at the root …
Service Supersized Recovery I recently heard in a meeting, “I don’t want to be just a survivor, I want to be a thriver.” I thought that was a great way …
How OA Changed My Life Recovery True Freedom When a fellow OA member suggested I reflect on what true freedom looks like for me, I discovered I could probably write a book. Before OA, I truly felt I already had it in the form of a solid career, … Read More
Higher Power Spirituality Steps Spiritual Rewrite I was complaining recently to my sponsor about the religious language of the Eleventh Step Prayer (AA Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 99), and she suggested I rewrite it in language that is mea… Read More
The Road Narrows My twenty-ninth birthday in OA is approaching, and it is cause for renewed reflection about my program. I spoke to my sponsor a week ago and mentioned to her that I was thinking of not taking a candle this year. Other OA members on their birthdays pitch about life changes: weddings, kids, jobs, financial gain, or acquisition of cars. I … Read More
Birthday Share As I celebrate my twentieth birthday of abstinent recovery in OA, I am filled with gratitude, joy, and hope. Prior to February 14, 1996, these incredible gifts were in short supply as I navigated through life, bingeing and depressed, depressed and bingeing. For decades, I expended endless amounts of energy keeping up appearances and maintaining my dirty little facade. I was … Read More
Recovery Beyond Measure In a few days, I will celebrate thirty-eight years of recovery in OA. Today my goal is health, sanity, and wellness, not a size 8. Physically, my body has been a normal size for many years. G-d has removed the compulsion for what I call “the hard stuff”—the stuff you see at the grocery checkout counter. I have reached a … Read More
