How OA Changed My Life Recovery Lost Half, Gained Everything I am at a peculiar milestone. I now weigh 168 pounds (76 kg), and that reflects my 168-pound weight loss. It’s also been thr…
Uncategorized All the Good Things Before OA, I was not the person I wanted to be. I wanted to be a good daughter, a good sister, a good friend, a good girlfri…
Uncategorized Travel-Sized Abstinence I just got back from a work trip to Connecticut. My work requires 30 to 50 percent travel, and for several years, eating whi…
Service Tools & Concepts Giving and Living When I arrived at my first OA meeting in August 1999, a member greeted me at the door. When I walked into the meeting room, …
Steps Traditions Stepping Up to Recovery I cannot believe I have been abstinent long enough to have made it to Step Twelve. When I first came to this program, I woul…
Service Tools & Concepts What Keeps Me Service is what keeps me in the program. There is no “as if” in it; my life truly does depend on it. Doing service at the gr…
Service Tools & Concepts Keeping Focused I am grateful for sixteen years and six months of abstinence, by the grace of God and this Fellowship. It is a gift to serve…
Service Tools & Concepts What Service Is From the very beginning of my time in the OA rooms, I heard that service is a Tool. However, I never thought about it as a w…
Service Tools & Concepts Spiritual Feast I confess that service was never the first option for me. I went to meetings to vent my sorrows and problems, to be heard in…
Steps Traditions Being Human Tradition Twelve brings the concept of equality to my mind. I hear that members of Twelve Step programs come from everywhere…
How OA Changed My Life Recovery True Freedom When a fellow OA member suggested I reflect on what true freedom looks like for me, I discovered I could probably write a book. Before OA, I truly felt I already had it in the form of a solid career, … Read More
Higher Power Spirituality Stepping-Stones, Nuggets, and Gems Spirituality is the solution to our problem of powerlessness, and we find this solution in the Twelve Step program of recovery. I’ve experienced three stepping-stones in this process: Amen, Amends, Am… Read More
The Road Narrows My twenty-ninth birthday in OA is approaching, and it is cause for renewed reflection about my program. I spoke to my sponsor a week ago and mentioned to her that I was thinking of not taking a candle this year. Other OA members on their birthdays pitch about life changes: weddings, kids, jobs, financial gain, or acquisition of cars. I … Read More
Share It: Powerful Shares, Joyful Reading, Pages and Prayers Powerful Shares I wanted to share how sad I am to hear about the discontinuation of Lifeline. It has literally been a lifeline to me. I am one of the ones who answered your 2018 subscription appeal, and I recently renewed my subscription and will cherish every last issue. Thank you for the articles about “The Joys of Retreats and … Read More
Recovery Beyond Measure In a few days, I will celebrate thirty-eight years of recovery in OA. Today my goal is health, sanity, and wellness, not a size 8. Physically, my body has been a normal size for many years. G-d has removed the compulsion for what I call “the hard stuff”—the stuff you see at the grocery checkout counter. I have reached a … Read More