Steps Step 2: Loving Restoration When I heard Step Two read aloud at meetings, it used to bother me. “Restored to sanity?” I thought disbelievingly. “I can’t point to a time when I ever was sane! What sanity is there to restore me to?” Indeed, I behaved very insanely before I came into program, which was ten years ago when I was 13 pounds (6 … Read More
Steps Step 1: Always a Beginner When I came into OA, I met a longtimer I particularly admired. She was slender and energetic. She shared wisdom and love with everyone in the rooms and had an irresistible sparkle about her. When we passed around the phone list, though, she did something that confused me. In the “Comments” column, she wrote, “Always a beginner!” Why on earth, … Read More
Atheists & Agnostics Something Like Physics I am a member of OA who is successfully working the program, and I am an atheist, or maybe an agnostic, but I’m not concerned with the label. I consider myself a spiritual person, but I do not have a Higher Power to whom I pray. I have been in OA for twenty-eight years. My current abstinence is six years. … Read More
Atheists & Agnostics Scientific Approach Before program my top weight was 430 pounds (195 kg). At my first meeting 30 years ago, I weighed 380 pounds (172 kg). I reached my goal weight of 200 pounds (90 kg) and maintained that approximate weight for many years. Later, I relapsed to a new top weight of 460 pounds (209 kg). Now with four years of abstinence, … Read More
Atheists & Agnostics I’m Not God When the OA speaker said, “I lost a whole person,” it shook me to my core. I needed to do that. Not a whole adult person, just a 30-pound (14-kg), scrawny three-year-old. His picture looked at me from 1951, sitting in the wagon with his two younger siblings, them looking like kids, him looking like desperation to please the photographer. … Read More
Atheists & Agnostics Many Forms I am an atheist with a spiritual life. I reconcile the spiritual side of OA by using the concept of acceptance and by not judging others. If I don’t know what’s good for me, then I don’t know what’s good for anyone. My best thinking— knowing it all and happy to share—got me to OA. The concept of a guy … Read More
Atheists & Agnostics Spirituality Defined A recent communication from an OA member had me thinking about the spiritual aspect of OA’s program. This person didn’t work the spiritual side of recovery. Well, I am an atheist, and I have a strong spiritual side. I began to ponder how I could explain this. I am a definitions person, so I consulted some online dictionaries for the … Read More
