Steps In the PI Flow Recently, I had the honor of working the OA booth at a local fair. The fair ran for many days, and it gave several intergroups the chance to reach out and help change the lives of strangers. Another OA member was working the booth with me, and I and recall her sharing the following: “Three years ago, I was wandering … Read More
Service Tools & Concepts Lessons from the Fellowship My recent service as Virtual Services Trustee has taught me about: balance between service to others and self-care, the importance of what is good for OA as a whole instead of what I prefer personally, accepting help and direction and not taking it as criticism, how much there is to know and how little I do know, grounding my ideas … Read More
Sponsoring Tools & Concepts Abstinent, Loving Witness Active addiction leads to denial, and asking more of a sponsee than I do myself is a red flag. Stinking thinking says my extra weight doesn’t count because I carry it so well. Without abstinence, serenity eludes me, and I’m in bondage to self, reactive and thin skinned about feedback or comments. Boundaries get lost in a food fog, and … Read More
Steps Traditions Transformational Awakening What is a spiritual awakening? How do we get it? If it is the result of working the Twelve Steps, that means we have to work them. This is how we can practice the Principles embedded in the Steps. It’s a pattern for living. And, we carry the message to newcomers by living the Steps, while protecting our own and … Read More
Meetings Tools & Concepts Just Like Me Attending my first OA meeting was the result of seeing some dramatic changes in a close friend. We had known each other long enough that we knew each other’s big secret: We were compulsive eaters. It was fine to share such an intimacy on a personal level, but the thought of doing it in a room full of strangers seemed … Read More
Steps Traditions Light Reaching Out Why would you care about a visibly overweight stranger? A person who needs a chair to sit on during long strolls through a department store? A person whose breathing you can hear as you travel close by them in an elevator? Do you understand a person who never seems to gain weight yet always eats or a person who shows … Read More
Fellowship Recovery Sharing Service My spiritual awakening came after rereading Step Three; I gradually began to trust Higher Power and became willing to turn my whole life over to him. This focus was strengthened by my daily use of meditation and gratitude lists. But before I was truly willing to do these things, I felt the presence of Higher Power being available to me. … Read More
Service Chatting with Churches Regarding our primary purpose, my OA group reached out to all Milwaukee-area churches where OA meetings are held. First, I called every location and told the secretaries I was sending a thank-you letter to the church leader and an announcement for their bulletin. They sounded very pleased; many gave me their email addresses. If our announcement was approved, it could … Read More
Atheists & Agnostics Higher Power The Power is OA I rarely use “agnostic” or “atheist” to describe myself, and the question “Is there a God?” is not one I give much thought to. Many people have religious or spiritual answers, others have scientific theories, and it’s clear they believe these narratives with passion and certitude. But I came to believe it would be intellectual arrogance for me to feel … Read More
Higher Power Spirituality A Better Way One of my favorite OA literature quotes is from the chapter on Step Three in The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition: “Once we compulsive overeaters truly take the third step, we cannot fail to recover” (p. 23). I find it a promise on par with any other; however, I understand that promise in the context … Read More