Sponsoring Tools & Concepts What If At a recent OA business meeting, our discussion revolved around member retention: how can we keep newcomers and other members coming back? After the meeting, a person near me said, “What if . . . what if everyone here took on one more sponsee?” What if? What if? This churned in my mind for over a week as I thought … Read More
Recovery Relationships More Kindness As far back as I can remember, I never felt truly loved by anyone. Different issues and circumstances in my life reinforced this belief over the years. As a compulsive overeater, I sought comfort in food and used it to try to numb some of the hurt I felt deep inside. As a result, my weight climbed higher and higher. This caused me … Read More
Fellowship Unity Day Totally Immersed My first Unity Day was in February, 2010. I had just started attending meetings, but I had no idea how the program worked. At a Unity Day celebration, I was exposed to dozens of people working the Steps. It wasn’t about being overweight; it was about sanity. At a workshop, I made friends who encouraged me to work the Steps, … Read More
Fellowship Recovery Uncategorized Stepping Up Attending World Service Business Conference as a delegate, I discovered how much responsibility is involved in shaping and maintaining the OA recovery framework from which we all benefit. Every policy and piece of literature goes through an extensive process that includes several layers of review and revision. Ordinary OA members participate in that development process, so our program’s resources are the … Read More
Service Face Time I went to a meeting the other day and was walking in with a friend (we squeaked in barely on time) when I noticed, down the hall, someone sitting alone. I asked, “Are you looking for OA?” The answer was yes. The newcomer had never been to that particular meeting before. I had just gotten the meeting started when two … Read More
Responsibility Pledge A Token of My Esteem To me, our Responsibility Pledge in OA means more than an arrangement to do something. In Spanish, the word ‘compromiso’ (commitment) can also mean ‘pledge’ or ‘token.’ A pledge is a thing that is given as security, a guarantee of completion; it is liable to forfeiture in any case of non-completion. From OA, I received an awareness of abstinence and … Read More
Traditions Tradition 6: Simplicity With money, property, or prestige comes responsibility. We already have enough responsibility. When anyone, anywhere, reaches for help, I want the hand of OA to always be there, and for that I am responsible. I struggle along well enough, one day at a time, in this world of confusion and misunderstanding. I get some relief from my addiction, and then … Read More
Responsibility Pledge A Hand Up When I reflect on my life before I embraced recovery in Overeaters Anonymous, I can only describe it as a vast, dark, dry, soulless wasteland. My old life ended on June 9, 2009, the day of my second entry into Overeaters Anonymous. I was immediately abstinent and this time (one day at a time) it “took.” I’m not sure why . … Read More
OA Responsibility Pledge One Main Reason I volunteered to write Lifeline about OA’s Responsibility Pledge, but when I started thinking about my stories on this topic, I realized I don’t have any great anecdotes about saving anyone. So I told myself I was foolish for volunteering. I generally mull things over before I do any writing, so I let a couple of days pass. Then I … Read More