Eager to Grow My experience of finding my Higher Power is not like finding buried treasure with a map; finding my Higher Power is much more of a process and a journey. It’s more like finding my balance when learning how to walk, or finding my strength when I first begin to exercise. In the beginning, I was so angry at the idea … Read More
Practice Prayer When I came into OA, I desperately needed to lose weight and gain sanity. All my life, I had made lists and plans and schemes. I was the queen of to-do lists and loved checking them off. But no matter how much I accomplished in my career and in other areas of my life and no matter how expert I … Read More
HP’s Handiwork “I have a whole lot of faith, but very few beliefs.” That is how I describe my relationship with my Higher Power. But this hasn’t always been the case. When I first came to OA, I had to make my start from just a willingness to believe. I came to the place I am now by “acting as if.” My … Read More
An Act of Grace I woke up late this morning. On my way to the kitchen for breakfast, I decided I’d just eat dry cereal instead of taking the time to cook my regular porridge. I wondered if I was being lazy, but the cereal is of good quality and non-sweetened. I measured it into my bowl. When I opened the cupboard to pull … Read More
Quit Claim One program slogan is particularly special to me because it saved my life: “Don’t quit before the miracle happens.” Back in the early 1990s I decided to give OA a chance. I was so sick of therapy, diets, and self-help books; I felt I had nothing left inside to keep me living—but this phrase stuck. When I thought I had … Read More
Kiss It Better I like to remember the acronym K.I.S.S.—“Keep It Simple, Sweetie”—because sometimes when I experience a craving, I panic. “Oh, no!” I think. “I am about to lose my abstinence! I feel like eating something outside my food plan! This feeling is powerful and overwhelming. I am powerless over food. Where is my serenity? Where is my Higher Power? Where is … Read More
All I Have to Do! Slogans—I love them! Since my return to OA, I seem to be using them more and more. To me they are triggers, good triggers—words and sentences that help me remember the teachings of the Twelve Steps. The one that seems to come to mind most often these days is “let go and let God.” When I returned to OA after a … Read More
Perfect Understanding To see where I am and how I got here, I must look into the past, where the God of my understanding put people, places, and situations in my path. Perhaps he was using the Tool of anonymity when he made me trip over coincidences to get me into recovery. I had a chance to try another way of living because … Read More
Dignity Given I was doing service work at a men’s homeless shelter, and this time they assigned me to the kitchen, where my job was to sort desserts donated by bakeries and then arrange them neatly and attractively on trays to serve at mealtimes. At first I balked at this—me, a compulsive overeater who used to binge on these foods, handling baked … Read More
Crazy Prayer “Many of us had asked God to help us control our weight and this prayer hadn’t worked” (The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, p. 15). Yes, I am one of those askers, and if the definition of crazy is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results, then I’m one of the crazy ones! For the past … Read More