Recovery Relationships Real Love and Innocence Growing up in the home of an alcoholic father with my six other siblings seemed easy while I was in it. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered I was having problems because of it. ln my 60s, I started to notice a problem with food, one that I had to admit had been there all my life. It … Read More
Recovery Working the Program Greater than Gold When my sponsee and I finished the Twelfth Step, we looked at each other and said, “Now what?” It felt more like a letdown than a victory. No certificate was awarded, no pin, no ceremony. A few days later, I made a card that showed a house with a huge gold star in the garage. In the card I wrote: … 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
How OA Changed My Life Recovery Eating to Be Undesirable I spent the first part of my adult life wearing sizes 7 and 9 in clothes, until the event, the incestuous encounter. What made my incestuous situation unusual? My perpetrator was my father, and I was an adult when it happened. I was in such shock after the event that for the next few days my brain (to help me … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Simple, Powerful Acts Since arriving in the OA rooms, I have a new understanding of forgiving myself and others. OA does not say I must be good or walk on my knees repenting. OA says: Make a list, go to meetings, share my despair and hear the despair of others, and listen to the solutions that each of us apply, one day at a … Read More