Steps Traditions Stepping Up to Recovery I cannot believe I have been abstinent long enough to have made it to Step Twelve. When I first came to this program, I would not have thought my life would be as it is now. It is very different. I am more open to life and active in it. The spiritual awakening I have experienced involves knowing I am … Read More
Steps Traditions Being Human Tradition Twelve brings the concept of equality to my mind. I hear that members of Twelve Step programs come from everywhere— from Park Avenue to the park bench. No one is more important than anyone else, and our outside status is of no consequence. A program member can recover despite his or her race, religion, or financial status. We exclude … Read More
Sponsoring Tools & Concepts Sponsors and Food Plans Q. I am an OA member who has embraced a specific way of eating. My current sponsor suggested I try to find a sponsor who may be more familiar with this particular way of eating because she is not familiar with it and wants me to get the most out of the program and a sponsor. Do you have any … Read More
Sponsoring Tools & Concepts No Good or Bad Sponsors When I was an OA newcomer, I had no success trying to find a sponsor. I went to three or four meetings a week, and at every meeting, I wrote in the book I was looking for a sponsor. No one offered to sponsor me. Out of desperation I called the intergroup, which provided me with a temporary Step sponsor. … Read More
Sponsoring Tools & Concepts Great Big Hurdle I am grateful for my wonderful sponsor—that’s what this is about. But first, I have to point out that we are not all alike, and the longer we are in OA the less alike we become. What is so wonderful about my sponsor is that she is a good listener. It is very hard to be a sponsor who really … Read More
Sponsoring Tools & Concepts Online Recovery One of the things available today is the vigorous online Fellowship. I was unable to attend face-to-face meetings for my first two years in OA, but I found an abstinent sponsor online who guided me through the Steps to abstinence and recovery. Because she lived in a different country, we only had one phone call for Step Five, but we … Read More
Sponsoring Tools & Concepts Little Voice Said Eight weeks ago, I attended my first OA meeting. I’d researched OA and vaguely knew about a concept of abstinence, but that was about it. After a bit more reading, another meeting, and devouring the Big Book and Twelve and Twelve, I realized I urgently needed a sponsor. After all, on reading the Twelve and Twelve, it seemed I was … Read More
Sponsoring Tools & Concepts When a Sponsor Stumbles I found OA in 2000 after a car accident left me in severe pain and unable to work. My mother died in the same year. We had a troubled, difficult relationship, and I feel sad she died before I came into recovery and realized I loved her. At that time I was 238 pounds (108 kg) and a size 22. … Read More
Sponsoring Tools & Concepts Abstinent, Loving Witness Active addiction leads to denial, and asking more of a sponsee than I do myself is a red flag. Stinking thinking says my extra weight doesn’t count because I carry it so well. Without abstinence, serenity eludes me, and I’m in bondage to self, reactive and thin skinned about feedback or comments. Boundaries get lost in a food fog, and … Read More
Steps Traditions Transformational Awakening What is a spiritual awakening? How do we get it? If it is the result of working the Twelve Steps, that means we have to work them. This is how we can practice the Principles embedded in the Steps. It’s a pattern for living. And, we carry the message to newcomers by living the Steps, while protecting our own and … Read More
