Recovery Working the Program Choosing A Discipline I work a pretty structured program and sometimes hear people talk about “rigidity” when they refer to things that I do gladly. It’s spiritually liberating, and has given me fourteen abstinent years so far, so I’m a happy boy. I choose a disciplined approach because I made a deal with God that I would do my share to maintain a … Read More
Recovery Working the Program Our Shared Solution We recover together or not at all. This is the “we” in the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. OA is not an “I” program. I tried the “I” program. It was all I knew; wasn’t I supposed to apply my will to problems and overcome them? But my food issues were impervious to my efforts. I was stuck. And I … Read More
Atheists & Agnostics Higher Power The Spirit of the Traditions Before program, I considered God a slot machine. I kept playing because once in a while a few coins dribbled out. But my fruitless quest for happiness felt like the extension of a drunken dream. If someone had asked me about HP, I would have given a boilerplate statement about “following my bliss,” or I might have said I didn’t … Read More
Higher Power Spirituality Craving vs. Conscious Contact I’ve long felt that, for compulsive eaters, one of our worst fears is simply being hungry and having to sit still and do nothing about it. The association between physical hunger and existential void triggers the sense of hopelessness that preceded so many of my forays into the deadly rituals from which I now abstain. Its black-sheep brother, the craving, … Read More
Working the Program OA For Visual Thinkers A target and a fork in the road: these mental images keep me focused on the goal of continued abstinence and recovery. The target image reminds me to aim for the center in my food planning and eating decisions. When I find myself pondering whether or not a particular food or eating behavior is within my definition of abstinence, I’m … Read More