Recovery Working the Program Action and Potential When I think of powerlessness, I get an image of myself as a lightbulb alone in a box on the shelf. I’m powerless, but I have potential. If I connect with my power source, if I’m attached to a fixture or socket and the light switch is turned on, then my potential comes to fruition: I can shine warm, useful … Read More
Telephone Tools & Concepts Call, Read, Write, Share I was sitting at my kitchen counter doing job-related work. I’d been struggling with food, and I had spent a lot of that day crying as I thought to myself, I am never going to be free. My phone rang, and I didn’t recognize the number. I contemplated not answering, but something prompted me to pick it up. I was … Read More
Sponsoring Tools & Concepts I’ve Decided to Sponsor I have been attending OA for about nine or ten months. Coming into my first meeting, I did have some idea of what to expect; a friend had told me. I have a tendency to connect deeply with the emotions of people in a room; sometimes that’s a blessing, sometimes it’s a struggle. In that first meeting, I immediately felt … Read More
Meetings Tools & Concepts Fostering Harmony My very first OA meeting demonstrated the Principle of unity. The OA website provided me with info about a local meeting and a contact person’s phone number. When I called, she invited me to a 10 a.m. meeting and also to a book study group that met half an hour before. I thanked her. On May 28, 2017, at 9:25 … Read More
Meetings Tools & Concepts Showing Up Imperfect I remember when I first started coming to OA meetings. I felt like people were looking at me differently, like they knew I was new and ignorant of their “OA ways.” I felt like an outsider. They spoke in a different way and had so much self-awareness. I only knew how to talk about the food, not emotions or the … Read More
Recovery Relationships Laugh In It’s such a blessing to laugh at myself, to see humor in the midst of misery. There’s so much laughter in the rooms, laughter at how ridiculous we are in the disease. The laughter is healing. It connects us—all of us, we all relate. We relate and we laugh and we know we’re not alone in these experiences, these thoughts, … Read More
Meetings Tools & Concepts First Meeting Back The seed of OA was planted in this compulsive person’s head in 2002 when I was 19 years old, but I was not yet ready to accept the fact that I was a compulsive overeater. Fast-forward to 2015: at 31 years old, I was at the end of my rope—I’d lost my will to fight for myself and was questioning … Read More
Relapse Twelfth Step Within Time for Twelfth Step Within In the “Kingdom of OA,” December 12 is officially Twelfth Step Within Day. We members of Region Eight’s Twelfth Step Within Committee address the twelfth day of every month as a day to reach out to still-suffering OA members, and on “twelve-twelve” (December 12), we double down. Everyone in OA acknowledges this official designation. According to my TSW Committee’s website, we … Read More
Gratitude Recovery Word of the Day Gratitude was not part of my vocabulary until I walked into an OA meeting. At times, I may have experienced gratitude or been aware of it, but I never verbalized it. Since coming to OA, I am aware of my gratitude on so many levels. First, I’m grateful that such an organization exists and is available to me wherever I … Read More
Recovery Relationships Old Errors, New Hope Step Twelve: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive overeaters and to practice these principles in all our affairs. I know I am not alone, because of the fellowship I find in the OA rooms. This knowing works positively in all areas of my life—just as the Twelfth … Read More
