Recovery Working the Program Promises Missed I enjoyed my August 2014 Lifeline very much but think the issue’s title could have been better. I am a huge fan of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, and credit my fourteen-plus years and more than 80 pounds (36 kg) of recovery to repeatedly working the Steps with my sponsor using the Big Book directions. I love all the promises … Read More
Traditions Willing Is Filling Higher Power has graced me with this realization: in our lifesaving program, I’ve come to have a preference for certain Steps more than others! It is an uncomfortable awareness. I know that each and every Step has a purpose in my recovery and each and every one is part of a dynamic combination that covers every aspect of my life. … 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
Steps Two New This morning, as part of my daily spiritual practice, I read a page from For Today and felt excitement. It is February, the month of Step Two. Although each of the Twelve Steps has played a significant role in my spiritual growth, Step Two has a special place in my heart. Step Two and Tradition Two transformed my understanding of … 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
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
Literature Tools & Concepts Complaint Stoplight “Chronic complaining is a useless practice that destroys self-acceptance and self-reliance . . . Instead . . . I can ask myself, “Is there anything I can do to help myself with this?” (For Today, p. 239). Chronic complaining sounds like self-abuse: if I continue to stay in the problem, then I am living in the problem—and living in the … Read More
Literature Tools & Concepts Love Action At last night’s meeting, my group read the April 17 entry in For Today (p. 108). Writing on the topic of “love in action” convinced me to be more questioning and honest about working the Twelve Steps. My main takeaway was the idea that love is expressed in actions. Words of love, in and of themselves, are insufficient. I have … Read More
Tools & Concepts Starting Days with For Today My favorite OA book is For Today: I love it because it helps me begin each day with recovery in mind. Reading it makes me part of a huge OA community; we’re all reading the same thing each morning. For Today demonstrates in a tangible way how many days have passed in the year and how many are left, which reminds … Read More