Higher Power Spirituality 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
Abstinence Why Would You Want To? “In our belief any scheme of combating alcoholism which proposes to shield the sick man from temptation is doomed to failure” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 101). The Big Book promised that working the Twelve Steps would allow me to feel neutral about my former binge foods. This was one of the things that attracted me to OA. I wouldn’t … Read More
Relapse & Recovery Different Perspectives In 1994, I hit bottom. Food no longer filled the hole in my soul. A sense of hopelessness and futility was constantly with me. I had reached what was my heaviest weight of 335 pounds (152 kg) and doubled my size in just four years. I was a graduate assistant working as a tutor at my university’s writing lab. One … Read More
Higher Power Perseverance, Even When When I got into program, I weighed about 240 pounds (109 kg), well over my target weight of 190 pounds (86 kg). I was bingeing and drinking too much alcohol, plus I was mildly depressed. I thought my spiritual life was okay, but really it was a cycle of small peaks and deep valleys. I’d get some abstinence, but then … Read More
Recovery The Paradox Why do I keep coming back? Because enlarging my spiritual life is a never-ending process. I came to OA on August 19, 2007, and have been abstinent from compulsive overeating and compulsive food behaviors since October 2, 2007. God has released me from 45–50 pounds (20–23 kg) of excess weight. I am grateful to God that I have never left … Read More
Higher Power As We Understood Him Before my second time around in OA, the God of my life was vengeful, punishing, unloving, and terrible. God demanded that my parents abuse me verbally, physically, and emotionally through beliefs such as “Spare the rod, spoil the child.” When I first came to OA, God was a huge stumbling block for me. OA is a spiritual program, but all … Read More
How OA Changed My Life OA Found Me Prior to entering Overeaters Anonymous in September 2004, I was a 25-year-old woman who could not break free of the binge and starve merry-go-round. My troubled relationship with food began at an early age. During my early teens, my food restriction was progressive. I was already fearful of my capacity for eating enormous amounts of food. This culminated in a … Read More
Atheists & Agnostics Something Like Physics I am a member of OA who is successfully working the program, and I am an atheist, or maybe an agnostic, but I’m not concerned with the label. I consider myself a spiritual person, but I do not have a Higher Power to whom I pray. I have been in OA for twenty-eight years. My current abstinence is six years. … Read More
Atheists & Agnostics Staying Centered I have a strong belief in the existence of a spiritual dimension, but not in a traditional God or divine being. My experiences of this spiritual dimension are my best guide to deepening my understanding. For me, a vital spiritual experience is a state in which I move beyond ego and self-will and feel total peace. Sometimes that state is … Read More
Atheists & Agnostics Many Forms I am an atheist with a spiritual life. I reconcile the spiritual side of OA by using the concept of acceptance and by not judging others. If I don’t know what’s good for me, then I don’t know what’s good for anyone. My best thinking— knowing it all and happy to share—got me to OA. The concept of a guy … Read More