Share It Longtime Lifeline I love Lifeline magazine. I’ve always loved it, even when I didn’t like this or that particular article I read over the years. I’ve subscribed since 1981 or 1982 and never missed an issue since way back when. In the past, I bought a binder (it was available from the WSO) to save and re-read articles. At meetings, I’d pass them … Read More
Steps Morning Crossing When I drew this picture, I realized that I was like the baby loon on its mother’s back. If I try to venture out alone, I am facing a lot of danger from my disease, which hides below the surface. So every morning, I have to turn over my will to God and ride along, safe because God cares for … Read More
Steps Stepping to Freedom Entering the rooms of OA nearly three decades ago, I anticipated that I’d be given a diet based on restriction and deprivation. I never dreamed I’d be given a life-enriching recovery program and the freedoms in each of OA’s Twelve Steps: Step One. Admission of my powerlessness means freedom from my mental obsession with food, allowing expanded space in my … Read More
Share It Section Shift I love Lifeline. I miss the section where members asked a question and one of the trustees answered. I’m not sure if this section was discontinued or if no questions have been submitted. It was a nice feature. — Anonymous Editor’s Note: Ask-It Basket now appears in A Step Ahead newsletter, published quarterly on oa.org, and will return to Lifeline in 2019. … Read More
Steps Light Wash Step 7: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. I have a habit of checking how clean a drinking glass really is by holding it up to the light. A glass that looks so clean when out of the bright light can actually be very dirty, covered in fingerprints and all sorts of marks—it’s not fit to drink from. It makes me think of … Read More
Steps Traditions Presently Unchained The OA program encourages us to live one day at a time. In other words, that says to me, “Live in today.” I heard a cute story about a man who was dragging a chain behind him on the sidewalk. Another man asked him, “Why are you dragging that chain?” To which he replied, “Have you ever tried pushing one … Read More
Sponsoring Tools & Concepts Sponsor vs. Skeptic When I was denied for weight-loss surgery, I was devastated. Crying, I went to my primary care physician, threw my hands in the air, and shouted, “I give up! The whole world is against me, and no one wants to help me. If I’m going to be fat forever, then I might as well just go eat myself into oblivion.” … Read More
Steps Define “Meaningful” Step Six: Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character I just celebrated my fourteenth year in OA. That’s amazing to me and I’m so grateful that my obsessions with food, overeating, and dieting have almost always been lifted—or I can use Tools or white-knuckle it until the obsession passes, which it quickly does. I have … Read More
Traditions Simple Solidarity Tradition Six: An OA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the OA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose. The Principle of Tradition Six is solidarity. OA has one primary purpose, and that is to carry the message of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions … Read More
Steps Hard, Healing, Emotional Work Step Five: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. I recently finished Step Five with my sponsor. I’ve done a Step Five before, but it’s been over a year since my last one. This time it was hard. Really hard. Those of us who have done a Step Five recall the … Read More
