Fellowship Tools & Concepts Pass It On My first few years in OA, I was working the Twelve Step program my own way. It didn’t work. I heard the suggestion to get a sponsor, so I did—several times— but I never bothered to talk to them. After four of the most painful years of my existence, having one foot in the Fellowship and the other pointing outward, … Read More
Fellowship Sponsoring When I Give, I Get It took every ounce of courage I had to ask someone to be my sponsor. The first two people I asked had to refuse; they were sponsoring others and didn’t feel they could give me the time they thought I deserved. The third agreed—and my life changed. She was very strict: I would do what she told me to do, … Read More
Working the Program Can Do At my first OA meetings, I recognized myself in the shares of others. Defensiveness, excuses, blaming, rationalizing, self-loathing, failure—all those alcoholic thoughts and actions described in the Big Book—all were familiar to me around food. I’d eaten volumes and screwed up dieting every day for years. Every night was one last huge supper and a swearing off, but by breakfast … Read More
Newcomers Attitude Adjustment During one of my regular OA meetings, something triggered an uncomfortable, awkward feeling that I couldn’t explain. As I made the long drive home, the feeling continued to intensify: I decided I would never attend another meeting. I knew how dangerous that thought was to my abstinence, but I couldn’t push it out of my mind. The next day I … Read More
Newcomers So Rewarding Newcomers help me remember the desperation that got me into OA. Newcomers remind me how powerful this disease is and how powerless I am over food. When a newcomer is at a meeting, I share my recovery, strength, and hope and stay in the solution. When I take on a newcomer as a sponsee, it is so rewarding. My recovery is boosted by … Read More
Working the Program Working Lessons Thirty-one months after my first OA meeting I still feel very much an OA baby, if not a newcomer any longer. I remember vividly how it felt to ring the bell of the Bath House, where the Cambridge UK Thursday evening group meets. Although I had previous experience in another Twelve Step fellowship, I was apprehensive about OA, but the … Read More
Steps First Steps Recently I was visiting with my 1-year-old granddaughter. I noticed that she kept kneeling, sitting, reaching down to the floor and then back up, sitting, kneeling, and pushing herself up. She kept doing these movements, up and down, up and down, over and over in all different ways, almost like she was warming up for something that she was getting … Read More
Newcomers Soaking It In Gaining recovery can be compared to making pickles. If I put a cucumber into a brine solution, soaking it consistently and continuously, then gradually and inevitably it becomes a pickle. So it is with recovery. Even if I’m afraid to get a sponsor and work the Twelve Steps, I can still accomplish quite a bit just by going to meetings. … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Heart’s Blood There was a time when I was a regular blood donor. Every other month, I would make my way to the local blood center, roll up my sleeve, and give a pint of A-positive. It was a small thing, but it made me feel good to know I was doing something that had lifesaving potential. But then things started to … Read More
Higher Power As We Understood Him Before my second time around in OA, the God of my life was vengeful, punishing, unloving, and terrible. God demanded that my parents abuse me verbally, physically, and emotionally through beliefs such as “Spare the rod, spoil the child.” When I first came to OA, God was a huge stumbling block for me. OA is a spiritual program, but all … Read More