A couple of months ago, I had an evening when I was feeling so much frustration, irritation, resentment, and disconnection from myself and those around me. I texted my sponsor and said, “I don’t know how to allow a Higher Power to help me. I just have too much resistance. I know that the Power of love in the world exists and could help, but I feel too resistant …

Today is it. I don’t have to do more than that. I’m grateful to my first sponsor for drumming into me the concept of “one day at a time.” When I worried about the future, she’d remind me to look down at my feet and say aloud 1) where I am standing, 2) what day it is, and 3) “That’s all there is. That’s all I get.” …

Before OA, which for me was fourteen years and 140 pounds (64 kg) ago, I didn’t know why I overate. But after Steps Four through Nine, I came to understand that I was using food to escape from unpleasant emotions. If I was angry or depressed, I ate to numb my anger or cheer myself up. I binged or acted out with character defects: I expressed anger by shouting …

I have really been getting a lot of guidance and clarity from HP during meditation lately, particularly during OA meditation phone meetings. On a recent group meditation call, these words came to me as a message to my body after I realized what a beautiful and sacred gift my body actually is. Dear Body, You are so amazing! You have been trying to take care of me for …

I remember the honest and gut-wrenching inventories I went through when I worked my Fourth Step. The first time was difficult. The second time was not as difficult, but it took me deeper into my hidden valleys as the layers of secrets were peeled away. Feelings of sadness, anger, and fear were thrown at me like javelins. I had no idea they were deep inside of me, and their …

When I entered Overeaters Anonymous, I simply wanted help to stop bingeing. I couldn’t stop no matter what I did, so walking into the rooms, I already knew I was powerless over food. What I didn’t know was that my compulsive eating was a symptom of a disease. I understand now that I have “a disease that affects the person on three levels—physical, spiritual, and …

Like many, I experienced bafflement at my first OA meeting. Others in the room were full of joy and laughter, while I brooded quietly in my disease. I couldn’t step outside of myself, and I could barely meet their eyes. At the time, I thought admitting powerlessness over food was humiliating, and the notion of attending meetings for the rest of my life made me feel constricted. I did …

I came into Overeaters Anonymous on March 26, 2005, thinking that I only had a weight problem. Soon l became aware that this program is not about the food. It is about how I feel about myself inside and how I react to life in general. When people shared, they spoke about the slogans, but I didn’t think of looking up at the meeting’s banner, which displayed them, to find …

After years of sobriety, I still occasionally ask myself, “Can it be this simple?” Later, at meetings, I see former skeptics who have walked the Twelve Step path out of hell by packaging their lives into twenty-four-hour segments, during which they practice a few Principles to the best of their ability. Then I can reaffirm to myself that while it isn’t always easy, it does work if I keep …

A few years ago, something happened. I remember saying, “Hold up. Wait. Stop the presses. What’s going on?” They told me that when you stop stuffing everything down, you have these things called feelings and emotions, and I remember thinking, “Did I miss a business meeting? Because I definitely did not vote for this!” One day, my eyes started leaking. I made a call. Apparently, this is called …