Service Tools & Concepts Principled Decisions Our intergroup is quite small and the same people seem to switch hats at election time. (This is quite common in some intergroups, I know.) But after I served two terms in one position, with a break in between to serve in a different position, I declined at election time to serve in the coming year. It was a tortuous … Read More
Relapse Relapse & Recovery Foundation for Spiritual Growth When I was 16, I left the religion of my family and began a deep search for meaning. I thought I’d found my answer and settled into complacent spirituality until the age of 35, when I came into OA. As I began to understand the Steps and work them, I approached Step Three with confidence. I had already investigated my … Read More
Higher Power Spirituality Space for God I had never led a retreat by myself and worried I’d come off as unprepared and not able to give anything to the group. I worried that I’d get lost, miss the ferry, get carjacked, or hit a moose. I was crossing into Canada—aren’t moose everywhere? I was at a retreat two years before where a woman in the audience … Read More
Keep Coming Back Relapse Twinkle in My Eye Most folks who know me only see my weight loss over the last few years, but the most significant changes in my life happened on the inside. It’s what cannot be seen, but seems to be sensed. It’s all due to OA. I came to OA in 1994 looking for a solution to my recent weight gain. I had kept … Read More
Recovery Relationships Better for Both In managing food addiction, there is no “putting it up on a shelf and never touching it again;” it’s an ongoing challenge to keep food within boundaries that are now set and kept. For me, it is also the same with sex. I have to keep my thinking within certain healthy boundaries whenever I think about sex or myself as … Read More
Steps Humility Keeps Me Abstinent I used to joke that when I first came into program, I was very proud of my humility. Not that I knew what humility was—I thought of it more as self-deprecating behavior. And I really did not think I had a problem with it. Now I think of it as balance. And I know I have a problem with it. … Read More