How OA Changed My Life Recovery Dishing Up for Others Holidays have always been a difficult time in my family. My earliest holiday memories revolve around eating very large quantities of food. I still remember the treats my mother bought and hid in the dishwasher so my father wouldn’t find them and confront her. Sometimes it is hard to unlearn habits that date back to childhood, but I have discovered it’s … Read More
Abstinence Good IDEA International Day Experiencing Abstinence takes place the third Saturday of every November, i.e., right before the amateur overeating season known as “the holidays.” Last year on IDEA Day, ten people braved their way through a snowstorm to hear about ideas valuable to abstinence. (Quoted material below is from Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed.) Compulsive eating is a disease, not a moral … Read More
Service Miracle of Meetings For me, meetings are the essential Tool, the base of the program. Without meetings, we would have nothing on which to hang the other Tools. Without meetings, we would have no ground from which to climb the Steps. Without meetings, we would have no hope of gaining serenity and no chance of attaining the abstinence necessary for recovery. A meeting … Read More
Service Sponsorship Share I believe the OA Fellowship tells us that all recovering members have two things in common: They have a sponsor, and they are willing to be a sponsor. Being a sponsor has given me so much more than I could ever give. I have been touched by the love and appreciation I receive from those I sponsor. In reaching out to … Read More
Service Fitness Witness The Big Book says we get to keep what we have “so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 85). Doing my spiritual exercises stands between me and that first bite! I reached my maintenance weight, having released 125 pounds (57 kg), after years of struggling with food, weight, body size, and life in … Read More