Higher Power Spirituality HP on a Personal Level For twenty-three years, I had been active in OA but never could get lasting abstinence. So, I started focusing on the spiritual side of the Steps, immersing myself in gaining a closer relationship with my God and Higher Power. I didn’t want to just believe in a Higher Power; I wanted to know my HP on a personal level. The … Read More
Steps Digging Differently As part of my daily program routine, I have been reading the Big Book and then writing on certain passages. On page 325 of Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, it states, “You hit bottom when you stop digging.” I can thankfully say that I’m not still digging in the way that I used to. I had many years of digging and … Read More
Higher Power Spirituality Honest to God Surrender is such a simple yet profound concept. When thought about, it seems so impossible and distant, yet when practiced, it is right at my fingertips. I find this dichotomy strange. In my religion, the recognition that we need God’s help to accomplish anything in life is meant to be second nature. However, in my life, this has been an … Read More
Diversity Life Journey I joined the OA program in the fall of 2014. I knew I needed help. I was morbidly obese. I’d tried every diet I knew about— diets would work temporarily, but then the weight I’d lost would find me (along with a few more not-so-friendly pounds). I finally turned to my Higher Power, whom I choose to call God. I … Read More
Higher Power Dear One: I “DO” OA has been a blessing in my life since July 2016. Working through the Steps has given me a new perspective and a more intimate relationship with this Power greater than ourselves than I have ever had before. I have called my Higher Power many names throughout my life (though “HP” is not one of them). I’d been ranting and … Read More
Sponsoring Tools & Concepts Thank-You Notes My sponsor had me start sponsoring at thirty-days abstinent. I was working Step Three by that point, so I could help newcomers getting started on Step One. My sponsor gave me ten minutes every morning for my first three years of abstinence. Now, I carry on that pattern, offering a daily ten-minute slot to someone newly abstinent and starting on Step … Read More
Recovery Working the Program Starter Recipe My spiritual breakfast is Step Eleven, and it’s the most important meal of each day. It nourishes my brain with fuel I need to have a fighting chance of serenity and abstinence in the twenty-four hours ahead. I try to do Step Eleven as soon as I wake. If I give my brain even half an hour in charge, my … Read More
Literature Tools & Concepts Second Edition Experience My heart just dropped into my stomach—did yours? On page 168 of The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition, it says we “accept responsibility for our actions, looking only at our own faults and taking no one’s inventory but our own.” A list of questions follows, under the heading “In what ways do we act ‘to … Read More
Higher Power Spirituality Sacred Store When I became an adult, I realized my father had suffered from a disease similar to my disease of compulsive overeating. His was “compulsive hoarding disorder.” Over the years, I’ve developed a much more compassionate view of his bizarre behavior, and I credit my participation in OA for this realization . . . and for my ability to forgive him. My … Read More
Relapse Twelfth Step Within All the Way In A couple of months ago, I was out walking my dogs when I received a call from one of the many names in my contacts list to which I’d given the last name only as “OA.” I answered and was happy to chat with an OA fellow whom I’d met several years earlier in the town where I’d first attended … Read More