Share It Shopping for Support This morning I read a Lifeline article about raising money for a workshop (“We Need to Ask,”). What our intergroup found worked best was having a boutique. Everyone has lovely clothes they no longer wear. We also include jewelry, crafts, and more. This not only helps the intergroup with contributions but also helps the OA member who is losing weight but … Read More
Literature Tools & Concepts Workshop Win We, eight compulsive overeaters and ordinary OA members, recently completed a sixteen-week workshop using the Overeaters Anonymous Twelve Step Workshop and Study Guide. We found the process so transformative in our lives and recovery that we want to share our extraordinary experience. We hope everyone finds the strength and profound intimate connection we found, for we now believe the saying … Read More
Sponsoring Tools & Concepts Speed Dating for Sponsors At our annual retreat, a miscommunication turned into a fantastic new workshop. When the leader of a session on sponsorship referred to “speed dating,” several members of the organizing committee thought we were going to experience speed dating for sponsors! It seemed a natural progression: we could move from a session on the benefits of sponsorship to a practical activity. The … Read More
Telephone Tools & Concepts Mountain Call I’ve always loved hiking and being in the mountains. When I gained enough confidence after three years of working an OA program, I signed up for a seven-day mountaineering trip. We would hike over snow and ice in the Canadian Rockies, carrying all our equipment and food and staying in alpine huts along the way. I was one of the … Read More
Tools & Concepts Whatever It Takes I am writing this as one of the assignments my sponsor gives me. She asked me to write on the action plan Tool. As I understand this Tool, it means using whatever it takes to help me achieve and maintain my abstinence. What actions have I started to take to help me do this? I make sure I get to … Read More
Fellowship Recovery We Need to Ask Our intergroup has struggled with having fewer funds than we’d like when it comes to covering our expenses. We need to pay for our website, buy liability insurance for meetings, facilitate workshops, and send representatives to regional conferences and World Service Business Conference to help OA grow and make vital changes. We need resources to carry the message to those … Read More
Fellowship Our Small But Mighty IDEA Our IDEA celebration last year was a small but mighty gathering of recovering compulsive eaters, both newcomers and long timers. At 11:30 a.m. PST, we stood in a circle and turned to the person next to us, held his or her hand, and said, “I put my hand in yours, and together we can do what we could never do … Read More
Recovery Around the World Beauty and Worth I came into the rooms of OA in September of 2009. My husband and I were going to New Zealand in 2010 and my pride and ego could not face returning there while I weighed more than 280 pounds (127 kg). Nothing I had ever tried before worked for very long, but then I overheard a woman sharing her message … Read More
Tools & Concepts Any Distance, Any Length “Any form of service—no matter how small— that helps reach a fellow sufferer adds to the quality of our own recovery.” —The Tools of Recovery Six months ago, I moved, leaving behind the OA meeting that had been my home for five years—my strong, healthy meeting full of abstinent recovery and knowledge of the Twelve Steps. There are meetings in … Read More
Service Hope in Writing I love our literature. Thank God for all the many members who have taken time over the years to share their experience, strength, and hope in writing, giving our Fellowship this rich resource. By the grace of God, I’ve now been abstinent for two and a half years, the longest period in my history of recurring relapse. I attribute my … Read More