Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on Reddit Share on Pinterest Share on Linkedin Share on Tumblr I received a short-notice invitation to go to Nashville for the SOAR8 (Region Eight) Recovery Convention so I packed my bag, my food, and my water and headed straight into a very full weekend of recovery. The theme of the assembly was “Tune into the Principles.” As a newcomer to OA, I was at first not familiar with the Principles and how they relate to recovery, but I learned that they are character assets, unlike the character defects this program removes from us. One speaker suggested that the Principles are ways of describing our Higher Power. Each speaker shared experience, strength, and hope as they related to one of the Principles. I found a wealth of lessons that will help me move in the right direction and not have to learn the hard way, as have so many before me. Some insights I gained: Abstinence is not a food plan. The food plan is what we eat. Our plan of eating includes the guidelines we live by to maintain our abstinence: how, when, where, and why we eat. Lack of abstinence means that I am turning my back on my Higher Power. One woman gave me strong advice: “Don’t lose your abstinence!” How do we do this? Keep repeating abstinent days, one day at a time. I need to work my program, not just my food plan. Recovery comes with action. • Practice vigorous honesty. Truth is always the same, but honesty changes with our growth and awareness. Take the cotton out of my ears and put it in my mouth. Discipline doesn’t mean I have to do it all in one day. Set a priority, do one thing, and move forward. Every action, no matter how small, helps overcome deadly procrastination. One person I met gives his daily schedule to his HP. Whatever doesn’t get done did not need to be done that day. Willpower does not work, but Higher Power does. How do we deal with our defects of character? We follow the three A’s: awareness, acceptance (self-love), and action. One thing that really stood out for me was how much there is to learn from the sharing in the rooms! Often I don’t feel like what I have to say is important or useful since I’m so new, but I learned that sharing is service. We never know when something we say will affect someone else at that moment. I am so grateful for the opportunity to attend this convention. You can be sure it won’t be my last! — Edited and reprinted from Focus on Recovery newsletter, Triad OA Intergroup, August 2011
