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
Abstinence Top Ten . . . Ways I Achieved Abstinence My sponsor asked me if I was willing to stop throwing up. I said yes and made a commitment. I knew that if I wasn’t going to throw up anymore, then I needed to quit bingeing too. God gave me the willingness and ability to keep my commitment. He continued to do so every day for the past twenty-three and … Read More
Abstinence Taking Inventory By my age, I’ve learned that setting down New Year’s resolutions is a hopeless and futile exercise. Last year, however, as a new calendar year began, I realized that I needed to take inventory of my life and my whole program, physically, spiritually, and emotionally. I needed to be honest and admit that something I had been rationalizing was a … Read More
Relapse Relapse & Recovery Unboxing My Disease I’ve been in OA for almost a decade, and I’ve had various levels of recovery. In the last few years, I entered in the deepest, darkest relapse I’d ever experienced. The only thing I can say I did right was to keep coming back. I’ve recently been going through old boxes that have been undisturbed for ten years. They’re all labeled … Read More
Tools & Concepts Leap of Faith Having come to OA weighing 330 pounds (150 kg) at age 38, I just wanted to look normal and be thin. When I finally plunged into the program after watching from the sidelines for six months, I chose a sponsor who had a large weight loss, which was what I wanted. We focused on a daily schedule, a workable food … Read More
Higher Power Tools & Concepts So That’s What the Tools Are All About After five years in program, it was just this year that I came to understand the Tools. For a long time, I thought they were the program. If I wanted to be working the program, I just had to be using the Tools. A little farther along, I believed my abstinence rested on whether I had used the Tools that … Read More
Fellowship Energizing Guide I’ve been an active member of Overeaters Anonymous for thirty-one years, and I’m maintaining a healthy body weight. Over the years, I have worked the Twelve Steps and learned to live the Principles. It was so exciting at the 2016 World Service Convention in Boston to see the Overeaters Anonymous Twelve Step Workshop and Study Guide revealed for purchase. Of … Read More
Fellowship Retreats Revitalize Renewal, revival, resurgence: these are all emotions I experienced this weekend at the annual retreat sponsored by my intergroup. It was held at the foot of Mount Beacon, a tranquil place of beauty in the Hudson Valley of Upstate New York. The bright, sunny facility had numerous comfortable rooms where we met for breakout sessions and meditations. The beautiful grounds … Read More
Tools & Concepts Dual Purpose My perspective on the Tools has changed, and I’ve been reflecting on why that’s happened. When I first worked the Steps with my sponsor, I realized that the Steps were what would bring recovery. But I also learned that I needed to look after my spiritual condition lest I be enticed by food. Whenever I had a food thought— and … Read More
Recovery Working the Program Walking Through It When I joined OA in 1977, our program was seventeen years old, and I wasn’t much older. In those days, the only food plan was the gray sheet, a fairly restrictive but useful way to eat. I had no idea how much to eat of what, until a practical food plan gave me a map. I called in my food every day … Read More
