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Literature Sets the Stage

By kmcguire@oa.org

Posted on September 1, 2020

2 min read

I have been a member of Overeaters Anonymous for thirty-one years, and I have been receiving Lifeline magazine for as long as I can remember. I love our OA literature and make reading For Today and Voices of Recovery part of my daily morning routine, along with writing in my journal and practicing prayer and meditation.

In addition, each morning, I read one story from Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition, and I just want to take a few minutes to write and express my immense gratitude not only to all the wonderful OA members who sent in their stories for this book but also to the caring members of the literature committee who spent hours reading all the stories. I can only guess how difficult it must have been to narrow the field down to those that were finally chosen for the book. I thank everyone involved for their awesome service, and I want you to know how much inspiration I get. It helps set the stage for my own recovery each day.

I’ll close by saying to anyone out there reading this: if you haven’t read Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition, give your program a boost by picking it up.

— Lee

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— Body Image, Relationships, and Sexuality: Personal Journeys to Recovery in Overeaters Anonymous, pp. 64–65

If you worry, DON'T PRAY; If you pray, DON'T WORRY — OA slogan

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Ego is my disease talking. Humility is God talking.
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平安の祈り 神さま私にお与えください自分に変えられないものを受け入る落ち着きを変えられるものは変えていく勇気をそして二つのものを見分ける賢さを
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ISM stands for "I Sponsor Myself." In over twenty-six years in this Fellowship, I have not heard a longtime recovery bulimic or compulsive overeater admit that it works without a sponsor.
— Shirley S., Sunnyvale, California USA

About Us

Overeaters Anonymous is a Fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience, strength, and hope, are recovering from compulsive overeating. We welcome everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively. There are no dues or fees for members; we are self-supporting through our own contributions, neither soliciting nor accepting outside donations. OA is not affiliated with any public or private organization, political movement, ideology, or religious doctrine; we take no position on outside issues. Our primary purpose is to abstain from compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors and to carry the message of recovery through the Twelve Steps of OA to those who still suffer.

History of Lifeline

   OA issued its first national publication, the OA Bulletin, in August 1963. Most of its twenty-four typed pages reported on OA’s second annual Conference.
   At that Conference, the Board of Trustees created the OA Bulletin as a bimonthly publication in which members could share stories of individual recovery and receive reports on board and Conference actions. Each of the forty-eight OA groups in existence at that time received two free copies of the first issue.
   The premier issue of OA Lifeline appeared in October 1965. Except for its reduced size of sixteen pages, it resembled its predecessor in format and appearance. The issue focused on food and weight, and subsequent early issues even included a page of recipes called “What’s Cookin’.” According to a tally on page seven of the first issue, OA then had eighty-nine groups. The early issues make no mention of circulation.
   In 1966, Lifeline began printing the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions in each issue. Circulation climbed to 4,747 by January 1978, when Lifeline began monthly publication. One year later, that number nearly tripled to 11,660. Circulation reached a high of 25,116 in June 1990. Since then, subscription rate increases and declining OA membership have dramatically decreased the magazine’s circulation.
   In today’s information age, Lifeline online (oalifeline.org) brings the magazine into some subscribers’ homes by computer and mobile devices. This instant communication via the World Wide Web offers new hope for wider circulation of both the magazine and OA’s message of recovery.
   For copies of back issues of Lifeline, go to the OA bookstore (bookstore.oa.org) and select “Lifeline” from the drop-down menu.

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