Fellowship World Service, Worldwide Friends I’ve long been a self-proclaimed “service junkie.” I learned very early the benefits of attending more than just one group. I’ve also reaped the benefits of having a sponsor and being a sponsor. It didn’t take me long at all to get involved at the group, intergroup, region, and world service levels, and I’ve been blessed to attend some of … Read More
Steps Reading the Steps Aloud Q. As a recovering anorexic/bulimic, I’ve been encouraged over the past thirty years by the addition of more inclusive wording in our literature, such as the phrase “compulsive food behaviors.” Has any thought been given to gender-neutral modifications to the Twelve Steps? When I read them, I say: “care of God/Higher Power as we understand that Higher Power” and “Humbly … Read More
Fellowship Better Defined After reading about the new definitions for “abstinence” and “recovery” approved by the World Service Business Conference 2019, I had a couple of questions: 1) What were the original definitions? 2) What were the reasons for changing the definitions? The 1988 WSBC approved this first Statement on Abstinence and Recovery: “According to the dictionary, the word ‘abstain’ means to refrain … Read More
Ask-It Basket Alternative to “Abstinence” I object to the word “abstinence” in the OA pamphlet A Commitment to Abstinence. Alcoholics abstain from booze or they don’t. Overeaters cannot avoid eating (unless they go down the rabbit hole of anorexia or bulimia). I know you justify “abstinence” as refraining from overeating or other eating disorders. It sounds fake to me. Would OA as an organization consider … Read More
Relapse Twelfth Step Within Twelfth Step Within Works In 1985, it took a strong, concerted effort to get World Service Business Conference to accept some Twelfth Step Within suggestions from a group of women from Region Two. These members fought for five years for something they believed in: the need to “carry the message to those already in program,” to members who were still struggling, maybe people whose … Read More
Literature Tools & Concepts Writing Voices of Recovery OA literature plays a large part in my recovery from compulsive eating. We’ve made many changes, and helping with the development of Voices of Recovery connected me with OA members around the world. It was my chance to express myself through writing and to read other members’ ideas. Creation of this publication started in 1998, when members were asked to … Read More
Abstinence Using Help “You have cancer!” Those were the first words I heard after coming out of surgery. My first thought was “Oh, good. I can eat now, and no one will judge me for it.” I’d been abstinent for almost three years at that point, but once a compulsive overeater, always a compulsive overeater. I didn’t like the thought of not being … Read More