Every December 12, OA groups and service boards around the world are encouraged to plan events for Twelfth Step Within Day, a day to support the still-suffering compulsive eater within our Fellowship. If you or a group would like to get started with something simple, here are a few ideas to make it happen: Make outreach calls. How about twelve …

I was recently at an OA retreat in my area with the theme “Carrying the Message,” and one of the workshops asked the question, “How do you carry the message in meetings, as sponsors, with fellows, and in your everyday life?” After I wrote my response and later shared it with the group, the workshop leader commented on my share, …

Like many in OA, I found that my compulsion to overeat originated in childhood. I came from a broken home with absent parents, and my happiest memories were of family visits to buffets and gatherings with large meals. I was praised for my “healthy appetite,” which invoked feelings of love and acceptance around overeating. I had a fast metabolism, so …

I was complaining recently to my sponsor about the religious language of the Eleventh Step Prayer (AA Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 99), and she suggested I rewrite it in language that is meaningful to me. Perhaps this version will speak to other compulsive overeaters: Higher Power, help me to convey the peace of mind you have given me. Where I find hatred, I can show …

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 …

As a part of making amends to myself, which was suggested by my sponsor, I created the following prayer. The prayer lists positive characteristics that oppose my character defects, which I discovered when working my Fourth and Fifth Steps. By saying this prayer daily and out loud to my HP, I am acting as if I believe these good characteristics are true about myself and trusting my HP to lead me to this recovered …

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 …

“Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity” (Step Two). That is all I heard twenty-two years ago when I went to my first OA meeting, and I’ve held onto that Step since. God could restore me to sanity, and he did. During all these years, I’ve never even thought to or wanted to leave this lifesaving program. At my first meeting, …