Fellowship Recovery Practice Space I’m not entirely sure what OA unity means to me, but a specific memory early in my program comes to mind. After a meeting, one member said to another, “I love you if you’re eating. I love you if you’re not eating. I love you because you are a compulsive overeater.” This was one of the kindest things I’d ever … Read More
Fellowship Recovery Together, We Have I have been in the rooms of OA for several years now, quietly waiting for my miracle. Like a student yearning for answers, I have listened, watched, and learned. I have listened to your stories and shares, hearing nuggets of wisdom that come from living a life built on the Principles of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, a life … Read More
Fellowship Recovery No Longer Isolated It is a wonderful feeling to go around the room and look into another compulsive eater’s eyes and say, “I put my hand in yours because I care,” and really mean it sincerely. Unity Day reminds me that I am no longer isolated in my home, in my room, in my hiding places, being loved and comforted by my food. … Read More
Fellowship Recovery All Roads to Recovery Tradition One says, “Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon OA unity.” We all found our way to OA not because of our strength but due to our weakness, which is how we react to food or compulsive overeating. The road I traveled to program was different from anyone else’s. I tried other Twelve Step programs after … Read More
Steps Traditions My Part of Together OA’s Twelve Traditions offer guidelines on how we can all get along. Simply put, we come into OA from diverse cultures, backgrounds, beliefs, personalities, and defects, so these guidelines are necessary for our survival as an organization. It is no surprise, then, that unity should be our First Tradition. This tradition forms the cornerstone of our organization; it’s how we … Read More
Fellowship Recovery A Little Food Plan History Q. When did OA stop publishing gray and orange sheet pamphlets? A. At the 1987 World Service Business Conference, a new policy statement was adopted, after which the gray and orange sheet food plans were removed from publication. The policy was amended and then rescinded but last read: “The OA 1997 World Service Business Conference, after careful consideration, believes that … Read More
lifeline Share It Cover Blown I’m from a very diverse area and have been in OA for forty-three years. I noticed the cover of the March Lifeline has only white people represented. We’ve had a lot of discussion about race in OA, and it’s caused our meetings to become aware of this kind of lack of understanding of racial issues. Can we do something to … Read More
Diversity Recovery Around the World Service-Based Blessing A number of years ago, my area had two intergroups with quite a bit of dissension between them. Fortunately, some of the members saw that what they were doing wasn’t working. They had the idea to disband both intergroups and start a new, unified intergroup. Our local fellowship was on board with this idea, and Unity Intergroup was born. I was … Read More
Diversity Recovery Around the World Better Than Smooth I live in a small town, and we’re a pretty homogenous group racially and culturally. But I have some thirty years of attending OA, and my early years were in a larger city. This city was very diverse, and I struggled with that somewhat in my work and in my neighborhood. Diversity was causing more problems than I could imagine, … Read More
Diversity Recovery Around the World We All Qualify I am a compulsive overeater of a common variety, and there is little about me personally that would not fit right into the least diverse of OA meetings. I am female, white, and I have been in OA for six years with four years of continuous abstinence. I came into the rooms of OA morbidly obese and now am at … Read More
