How OA Changed My Life Good and Bad When I sat in my first OA meeting in February 1990, I weighed 215 pounds (98 kg). I could not stop eating, and three-quarter…
Service Giving Away a Secret I have always been so guarded with every aspect of myself. Just the prospect of being exposed and having someone see the raw…
Spirituality Meditation Mediation I want to share about a coincidence at a recent meditation meeting. When I arrived, I noticed a man with long, matted hair a…
Newcomers Necessary Steps I came to the West Coast broken in spirit, ashamed, and depressed. Last year I lost another 132 pounds (60 kg) and regained …
Traditions Tradition 10: Capital Idea I recently had a spiritual aha moment: Many of us learned that a proper noun is not just a person, place, or thing, but a sp…
Steps Step 10: Dirty Laundry I was in the launderette flicking through one of their magazines when I saw something I quite liked. “This is just a secondh…
Fellowship Responsibility Pledge Care-Full Driver When I was getting ready to learn to drive, my father wouldn’t sign my driver’s ed voucher until I wrote a paragraph on resp…
Abstinence Fresh Talk We have all heard many OA slogans over and over. I’d like to share a few fresh slogans I’ve heard in OA meetings, both face-…
Abstinence Life List This Twelve Step program has saved my life. I have been maintaining a 50 pound (23 kg) weight release for thirty wonderful y…
Recovery Simple Sanity When I was a boy, I was always attracted to quotable quotes, points to ponder, or words of wisdom. Little did I know that th…
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 Stepping-Stones, Nuggets, and Gems Spirituality is the solution to our problem of powerlessness, and we find this solution in the Twelve Step program of recovery. I’ve experienced three stepping-stones in this process: Amen, Amends, Am… 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
Share It: Powerful Shares, Joyful Reading, Pages and Prayers Powerful Shares I wanted to share how sad I am to hear about the discontinuation of Lifeline. It has literally been a lifeline to me. I am one of the ones who answered your 2018 subscription appeal, and I recently renewed my subscription and will cherish every last issue. Thank you for the articles about “The Joys of Retreats and … 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