Higher Power Spirituality A More Beautiful Way to Live What in the world is spirituality anyway? I’d had a good upbringing in my family’s religion, but had no more spirituality than I had control over my eating. The God I grew up with was not personal to me, more like an ethereal image that I couldn’t grasp or really even believe in. He was from a book, rather than … Read More
Steps An Idea Whose Time Has Come My thinking can get me into a ditch on the side of the road. For example, if I read Step Two questions such as “What do I need from a Higher Power? What would I like such a Power to be and do in my life?” (The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition, p. 13), I … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Recovery Denial, Defiance, Desperation, Destiny I came into OA in 1994. I got a sponsor at my second meeting, went to three meetings per week, and had the great fortune of being “struck abstinent” within my first two weeks. I began working the Steps and had two years of good solid abstinence. That’s when I thought to myself, “I got this.” I have since learned … Read More
Higher Power Actions That Help I came into program pretty mad at an HP who seemed not to care about me and let all the bad things happen both to me and in the world. When I started working Step Two, my Step work started demonstrating to me how limited my belief was. I began to explore and experience something greater than my limited imagination. … Read More
Recovery Working the Program The Essential Me I’m juggling a lot of stressful family and work responsibilities right now. It’s easy to get lost in the potent stew of “must-do’s,” worry, and expectations (both mine and others’) and find myself trying to control events, people, feelings, and outcomes and make everything “right.” (Right, of course, means “my way.”) That’s how I used to live, on the adrenaline … Read More
Higher Power Spirituality Energy, Plain and Simple I first set foot in an OA meeting eleven years ago, but until lately, I had been unable to attain long-term recovery. Why? I couldn’t find a Power greater than myself. Lack of a Higher Power kept me sick much longer than necessary. I made desperate attempts, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to believe anything outside myself … Read More
Literature Tools & Concepts Full-Length Program I would like to comment on “No Stone Unturned” in the May/June 2018 issue of Lifeline. It begins on page 11 under the subheading “Conscious Contact and Relationships.” I’ve been receiving Lifeline magazine for a number of years and have to say that this article is the most profound I’ve ever read! It includes all aspects of the writer’s program … Read More
Recovery Working the Program Recovery Thinking When I first came into recovery, I was told that I’d have to completely change how I think about food and dieting. That baffled me: How do I change thoughts that just come into my head? And what do I change them to? Five years later and 50 pounds (23 kg) lighter, I understand. Today I know I’m not responsible … 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