Fellowship Recovery The World’s Longest String In the summer of 1979, I, along with three other compulsive overeaters, none of whom weighed less than 225 pounds (102 kg), jumped into my subcompact car (talk about a low-riding chassis!) and drove twelve hours from Durham, North Carolina. Our destination? New York City, home of the 1979 World Service Convention. What do I remember? I remember the show … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Recovery Gift List This year, OA celebrates its 60th birthday! Observances and activities will be held worldwide. My Pinellas County Tradition Intergroup was part of the celebration last year, and we organized a workshop where we created a list of all the gifts for which we’ve been grateful. As our gift list grew, our eyes were opened to how the program has changed … Read More
Traditions Entrusted Not Expert Am I a worthy ambassador for OA? About a year ago, I had the opportunity to volunteer at a public event alongside a high-profile spokesperson for my company: a registered dietician. Before her presentation, I shared with her why I’d wanted to meet her and work with her. I greatly admire her work in teaching the public about healthy eating … Read More
Meetings Tools & Concepts Q&A Soirée Last year in January, I decided that a good OA service I could provide would be to offer a newcomers’ question-and-answer session every three or four months. (I’ve been an abstinent member of Overeaters Anonymous since 2000, and I’m maintaining a healthy body weight.) I simply kept a list of all the newcomers who attended the meeting I go to … Read More
Steps Traditions The Face of OA Recently, I came home after running a bunch of errands and realized I’d been wearing my name badge the whole time. Not only that, I had conducted my last transaction at a supermarket with mustard on my nose. I couldn’t help but wonder what people thought of me. What kind of impression did I make, and what would people think … Read More
Recovery Relationships Living Connected I would rather live in recovery than die in isolation. These words came to me as a spiritual truth, simple yet profound. Living in recovery is not easy—it takes daily work—yet it beats the alternative. I am an introvert and crave solitude. It is one of my spiritual needs. However, before recovery, I was unable to distinguish between solitude and … Read More
Fellowship Recovery Unity Day Portions Unity Day 2016 was a day to remember. We had three speakers, and the tone for the day was set when we read the quote on page 360 in For Today: “The only gift is a portion of thyself.” The first speaker noted, “I finally gave up believing that skinny equals happy. There is a Higher Power out there if … Read More
Fellowship Recovery Intergroup Participation Q. Are there any suggestions on what an intergroup can do to attract participation from the Fellowship? A. Yes. First, let me assure you that yours is not the only intergroup that has challenges with this issue. The good news is that there are a number of ways to stimulate growth in intergroup participation. One way to get started is … Read More
Relapse Twelfth Step Within Time for Twelfth Step Within In the “Kingdom of OA,” December 12 is officially Twelfth Step Within Day. We members of Region Eight’s Twelfth Step Within Committee address the twelfth day of every month as a day to reach out to still-suffering OA members, and on “twelve-twelve” (December 12), we double down. Everyone in OA acknowledges this official designation. According to my TSW Committee’s website, we … Read More
Fellowship Recovery IDEA Event Well-Worked Our International Day Experiencing Abstinence event was well attended by many in our recovering community in Milwaukee. We opened with a speaker, then did a writing activity. Perhaps you could write about this topic too: “What is the difference between dieting and abstinence?” Then we read a Lifeline article (“Outside and In”) about the difference between trying to be abstinent … Read More