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
Sponsoring Tools & Concepts A Grateful Goodbye My first sponsor, M., passed away last month. He was one of the first people I met in OA, but it was a year before he became my sponsor. He was one of the few men I’d met and one of very few OA members who identified as a sponsor. I wrote down his number, but at the time, he … Read More
Share It Timely Help “Meeting on the Menu” (March 2019, p. 7) reminded me of two OA miracles: arriving “to the meeting on time” and “how effortless it had been to refrain from compulsive overeating” once I became abstinent. Because my life today doesn’t yet look how I wish it would, I often forget where I came from. I used to be in constant … Read More
Recovery Working the Program My Whole Sum Value Most of my life, I have lived in the extremes of my insanity. I have starved myself, used pills that are known to cause heart attacks, exercised for hours daily, and binged to the point of purging. I thought if I looked a certain way, weighed much less than I did, and acted nice and polite, then others would see … Read More
Steps Soul Food Step Five is where we begin to learn how to love ourselves. Most of us know something is wrong in the way we’re living, but we have no idea how to address it. When we allow ourselves to get vulnerable with another human being in Step Five, we open a door that creates greater understanding of our personality and character—the … Read More
Recovery Danger and Dental Floss I came into OA in March 1977 and have been abstinent since January 1980. After losing 30 pounds (14 kg), I have maintained a normal body weight. I have been imperfectly working the Steps for almost forty-two years, and here’s what I’ve learned. Step One is the foundation Step. I admit I am different. Everything must flow from my belief (though … Read More
Steps Traditions Make a Right Turn If I wasn’t stuffing my mouth with food, I was “verbally vomiting” out of it! My former purpose in “venting” wound up revealing itself to me and others as a lack of acceptance and a failure to trust that God is in control. A lack of acceptance indicates discontent and disagreement; a discrepancy between the way people and things are … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Recovery Joy on the Job My family has a very strong work ethic that I inherited. However, I also had blind spots that affected my working life in ways I never grasped until I felt inspired to do a complete inventory of my job history. A new Fourth Step inventory is what it took to open my eyes to all the character defects and shortcomings … 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
Recovery Relationships Becoming “Other Wise” Tradition Twelve: Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all these Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities. If it’s not happening already, it’s just a matter of time in these rooms before you experience a relationship or acquaintance you do not like. It’s natural; we’re all human and none of us are perfect. However, I challenge your character … Read More