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 All Are Welcome Q. I keep hearing the term “food addict” when people introduce themselves at meetings. Is this okay today? I have always used the terms “compulsive eater,” or “compulsive overeater.” I personally do not care for the term “addict.” What is considered correct? A. The answer is there are no rules concerning how people introduce themselves at an OA meeting. Some … 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
Literature Tools & Concepts All I’m Asked to Do Recently, for my recovery, I’ve been reading from the Big Book each day, writing about it, and sharing my writing with my sponsor. Today’s reading was just two sentences: “Ask [God] in your morning meditation what can you do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order.” (Alcoholics … Read More
Relapse Relapse & Recovery Reworking the Basics How did I get to the point of isolation? I binged; I ate to numb myself from my problems and stress, my disappointments in life. I was embarrassed by my eating behavior and didn’t want to face my friends, so I withdrew. I forgot what I’d learned through working the Steps; I forgot because I stopped working them. I forgot … Read More
Recovery Relationships Connecting to Hope and Help I’ve always been a loner, happy in my own company, where I write, create, talk to myself, and can completely be myself with no mask, no pretenses, and no judgement. I had been a misfit throughout my life, always extremely self-conscious around other people. In the company of others, I would feel an element of forced politeness and false cheerfulness; afterwards, … Read More
Meetings Tools & Concepts The Regulars We call ourselves “The Regulars,” although there’s nothing regular about any of us, except this: we keep coming back to our 7 a.m. meetings, Monday through Friday, week after week. Many of us come every day, some only on certain days, and several core members have been showing up for many years. What, you may ask, would drive us to … Read More
Recovery Relationships Through and Through I do not know why I belong to OA. What I do know is that I do belong. I am a member through and through. All my life, I have struggled to feel “a part of.” Now, in this Fellowship, I truly have found the home and place where I belong. Often when I see funny pictures and scenes online, … 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
Fellowship Recovery Unity Day Portions Unity Day 2016 was a day to remember. We had three speakers, and the tone for the day was set when we read the quote on page 360 in For Today: “The only gift is a portion of thyself.” The first speaker noted, “I finally gave up believing that skinny equals happy. There is a Higher Power out there if … Read More