Modified Study Guide I wanted to share with the Fellowship how much I appreciate the Twelve Step Workshop and Study Guide and how I have used it. I started by reading it cover to cover. I was excited to learn that such a variety of our OA literature is referenced as well as the good old AA literature. When I came into OA in 1978 (and hit … Read More
So Much Better Nearly every day, I fill out a Tenth Step form. This was something my sponsor gave me a few weeks after I entered program even though it was some months before I formally reached the Tenth Step. As I fill out the form, I reflect on how I’ve worked my program that day, what my gratitudes are, and whether I’ve been resentful, fearful, dishonest, or … Read More
A Possible and Promising Step I dreaded the Ninth Step more than any of the others, even the Fourth and Fifth Steps. I’ve always envied those who seem to lead fairly normal lives, doing no more than a minimal amount of damage as they went along. I’m not one of those. My selfishness and self-centeredness knew no limits. Everywhere I went, everything I participated in, … Read More
Lesson for a Simple Approach I am currently three and a half years abstinent and working Steps Ten, Eleven, and Twelve to the best of my ability, one day at a time. During a recent morning call with a sponsee, I was listening to a Step Ten resentment she’d written about. When she got to the part of identifying her character defects and shortcomings in this … Read More
Lending What Was Offered When I began OA in October 2000, I chose a sponsor who had what I wanted. She shared her experience of working through the Steps and Traditions of OA with her sponsor, and I began my process according to her experience, strength, and hope. I purchased OA’s Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions book along with its companion, The Twelve Step Workbook of Overeaters … Read More
Humbled by Sponsoring I first became a sponsor in 2008 as part of working the OA program of recovery. I started sponsoring after experiencing seventy days of back-to-back abstinence, working the first three Steps, following the OA-HOW structured meeting format, and soaking up lots of love and physical, emotional, and spiritual healing like a dry sponge. I came to OA obese and full … Read More
The Voice of My Higher Power During my past twenty years of abstinence from compulsive overeating and compulsive food behaviors, doing my best to incorporate the Principles of OA’s Twelve Steps into every moment of my daily routine, I have often heard that compliance is not the same as surrender. I believe this to be true, for I have watched as members working a program of … Read More
Living Proof A sponsor has what a newcomer wants: abstinence! I wouldn’t be able to sponsor if I was in the food. It would be like a drunk sponsoring someone in AA. We’re crazy when we’re in the food, whether we know it or not, and it would be a disservice to OA and the newcomer to pass on that insanity. There … Read More
Partners in Recovery There are many different ways to share experience, strength, and hope in the OA Fellowship. As two OA members in recovery, we would like to share a way that has worked for us. We have been calling our relationship “Partners in Recovery.” Together, we have developed a unique relationship that is separate from a sponsor/sponsee relationship, although we still continue … Read More
Sponsors and Food Plans Q. I am an OA member who has embraced a specific way of eating. My current sponsor suggested I try to find a sponsor who may be more familiar with this particular way of eating because she is not familiar with it and wants me to get the most out of the program and a sponsor. Do you have any … Read More