Recovery Working the Program Action and Potential When I think of powerlessness, I get an image of myself as a lightbulb alone in a box on the shelf. I’m powerless, but I have potential. If I connect with my power source, if I’m attached to a fixture or socket and the light switch is turned on, then my potential comes to fruition: I can shine warm, useful … Read More
Diversity Newcomers Search Support It was May of 2015, and I was up 30 pounds (14 kg) after a yearlong sugar binge. Although I’d been on a constant roller coaster of losing and gaining, this was the biggest weight gain I’d experienced in seven years. It was also the low point when I began to realize my powerlessness over food. I had not yet … Read More
Steps Traditions No Wrong Door “In keeping with Tradition Ten, Overeaters Anonymous has no opinion on bariatric (weight-loss) surgery. In the spirit of Tradition Three, Overeaters Anonymous welcomes anyone with a desire to stop eating compulsively, including those who have had bariatric surgery or are contemplating it” (Business Conference Policy Manual, 2018b). When the delegates to WSBC 2018 voted to adopt this policy statement, I … Read More
Gratitude Recovery The Strategy of Surrender At our writing meeting, we often read articles about spiritual awakening from books such as Lifeline Sampler. Reading articles written by fellow Overeaters Anonymous members, people like me, seems to give me the deepest insights, and this particular meeting opened up a new perspective about gratitude. Once again, I became able to identify behavior patterns I’d created a long time … Read More
Recovery Paying It Forward My first day in OA, I was desperate and hopeless. I had reached bottom and thought I could not recover. After that first meeting, a kind man gave me a Big Book and Lifeline to take home and read. He told me there was hope and to keep coming back. With tears in my eyes, I left the meeting believing … Read More
Atheists & Agnostics Power Within and Without I found the Power inside of me, a small quiet voice. Call it intuition. It is a sudden or intuitive thought or decision that helps me move forward for the sake of what is good. It is a feeling, sometimes overwhelming, filling me and lifting me up; a release of a burden; a certainty and clarity of what is right, … Read More
Atheists & Agnostics Having Faith When I feel empty, alone, uncertain and frightened, I need to act as if some force in the universe exists that will guide me. People search for certainty in many places and things outside of themselves, but if I trust that intuitive voice within, I know what is right for me. I get in touch with that voice at quiet … Read More