Steps Traditions Light Reaching Out Why would you care about a visibly overweight stranger? A person who needs a chair to sit on during long strolls through a department store? A person whose breathing you can hear as you travel close by them in an elevator? Do you understand a person who never seems to gain weight yet always eats or a person who shows … Read More
Abstinence Share It Compelling Benefits I have been reading Lifeline for years and have loved many articles, but this is the first time I felt compelled to respond to an article. I really loved “You Just Might Be” (February 2019), which lists off many indicators, in a humorous way, to tell if you’re abstinent or not. I could relate so much! The first time I … Read More
Literature Tools & Concepts All I’m Asked to Do Recently, for my recovery, I’ve been reading from the Big Book each day, writing about it, and sharing my writing with my sponsor. Today’s reading was just two sentences: “Ask [God] in your morning meditation what can you do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order.” (Alcoholics … Read More
Recovery Working the Program Starter Recipe My spiritual breakfast is Step Eleven, and it’s the most important meal of each day. It nourishes my brain with fuel I need to have a fighting chance of serenity and abstinence in the twenty-four hours ahead. I try to do Step Eleven as soon as I wake. If I give my brain even half an hour in charge, my … Read More
Telephone Tools & Concepts Call, Read, Write, Share I was sitting at my kitchen counter doing job-related work. I’d been struggling with food, and I had spent a lot of that day crying as I thought to myself, I am never going to be free. My phone rang, and I didn’t recognize the number. I contemplated not answering, but something prompted me to pick it up. I was … Read More
Anorexia & Bulimia Most of All, Hope I grew up as an only child with alcoholic overeaters for parents. For the first seventeen years of my life, I dealt with two drunken “rageaholics” acting crazy. I never knew what would happen. I walked around in sheer panic and terror, afraid my parents would divorce, afraid Mom would drink herself to death, afraid Dad would kill someone on … Read More
Sponsoring Tools & Concepts Life Gets Easier I was talking to my sponsee the other day. Just writing that sentence is a revelation—me, a sponsor? That’s something I thought would never happen, and something I would never be good enough for. When I was asked to be a sponsor, I was so stunned that the first thing that flew out of my mouth was, “Are you sure?” … Read More
Tools & Concepts Writing Work the Workbook Prior to May 1979, I was unhappy, overweight, and miserable. I ate to console myself, and things got worse with every binge. The vicious cycle was a major part of my life, and I saw no way out. Fast-forward thirty-six years, and I have been blessed with many miracles. Abstinence has become the most important thing in my life, and I … Read More
Fellowship Recovery IDEA Activity: Pen a Principle I have been in Overeaters Anonymous five and a half years and abstinent for more than eighteen months. I do not weigh myself, but the clothing I had last year still fits. I am so grateful for Overeaters Anonymous. At our International Day Experiencing Abstinence celebration last November, we did group activities working with program Principles. My group’s Principle was … Read More
Gratitude Recovery From “Brattitude” to Gratitude Gratitude—I am filled with gratitude for the two sponsors I’ve had in OA over the last twenty years. The first one got me going and supported me as I learned to work the program and use the Tools. We prayed together, wrote in journals, and worked through the first Eight Steps. We didn’t have the same religion or even the … Read More