Pass It On – a Lifeline Project Imagine all of the still-suffering compulsive eaters waiting in doctors’ and dentists’ offices or sitting in emergency rooms with nothing to read but magazines touting recipes and dieting. Imagine compulsive exercisers at the gym seeing magazine after magazine featuring nothing but unrealistic body types. Let’s give them a gift: Lifeline. What a refreshing change! Stories of recovery! Stories that save … Read More
Hope in Writing I love our literature. Thank God for all the many members who have taken time over the years to share their experience, strength, and hope in writing, giving our Fellowship this rich resource. By the grace of God, I’ve now been abstinent for two and a half years, the longest period in my history of recurring relapse. I attribute my … Read More
An Invitation to All Members I have thoroughly enjoyed giving service as intergroup newsletter chair for the past two years. It’s been a pleasure to read articles of recovery from enthusiastic members and compile them into a final product each month. When I first ran for newsletter chair, I really didn’t know what I was doing. However, I knew from previous experience with OA service … Read More
Live and Learn—and Serve If I accept the circumstances I am in, I am given the opportunity to learn and serve. To learn and serve is the agreement I made when I entered the Twelve Step program: Accept—Learn—Serve. When I came to understand I had a disorder that made me different from many other people, and when I came to accept I would have … Read More
The Blessing of Technology I first came to OA almost seventeen years ago. At that time, I lived in a large city where many OA meetings were available. I got a sponsor, went to great local meetings, and stayed abstinent for about five months. Then my husband got laid off, and we had to make a giant life change. We moved across the country … Read More
Now Serving Service is a favorite Tool of mine. Carrying the message to the compulsive overeater who still suffers is the purpose of our program, and service has always been important to my personal recovery. When I move to a new area, I find that doing service helps me get to know the people and projects in my new OA groups. There … Read More
Service Center I have been abstinent now seven and a half years, and service has given me so many blessings. Here are just a few: Service gave me courage to stick around. I arrived at my first OA meeting about ten minutes early, nervous and contemplating leaving. I saw somebody setting up chairs; she had about fifty to arrange, all by herself. … Read More
Quick Calling When I used to exercise compulsively, I had a saying I would use to keep hydrated: “When you think, drink.” Now that I am abstinent, I no longer exercise compulsively. But I use a similar method to make outreach calls. Whenever my intuition (also known as my HP’s will) tells me I should really make a call, I immediately grab … Read More
Once I’ve Started I have been in program for twenty-seven years. When it comes to using a food plan, I used to have rules for what to eat, what not to eat, how much to eat, when to pray, and more. But I’ve found that the more I complicate my food plan, the more loopholes appear for my disease to discover and exploit. … Read More
Doctor’s Reasons In Dr. Bob’s Nightmare (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., pp. 171– 181), Dr. Bob states four reasons for passing on what he has learned to others who badly want recovery. Among them is a sense of duty: “I am paying my debt to the man who took time to pass it on to me” (p.181). Because I had sponsors who gave … Read More