Hope in Addiction
In this poem, Jacki asks Higher Power to be with her in moments both peaceful and painful.
Higher Power
Flying Up the Wrong Tree
A bird’s repeated failures reminds an OA member of the insanity of compulsive eating behaviors and how an outside influence is essential to arrest those behaviors.
I Stand Aside from My Discomforts to Stand Inside Wisdom
“Joy comes in finding the good, even in the bad. Not only would I rather find joy, I am also assured that Higher Power would want this for me also.”
A Disease of the Mind (Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition, Appendix B)
A medical doctor asserts that compulsive eating is a disease that precedes other chronic disorders. The disease can be successfully treated by applying treatment principles similar to those used for alcoholism.
A Disease of the Spirit (Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition, Appendix D)
Compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors are indicators of an individual’s suffocated spirit. However, with the encouragement, support, wisdom, and love of OA’s Fellowship, a new sense of wholeness can emerge.
My Higher Power = Life Force
Some atheist and agnostic OA members practice meditation in Step Eleven. For one agnostic, meditation has inspired a poem and a recognition of their personal Higher Power.
I’m Still an Agnostic and I Still Keep Coming Back
Can an agnostic find recovery from binge eating in the OA program when it has so many references to God? In her own words, one agnostic OA member says, “This program works. I have not binged in over twelve years. If you are like me, I encourage you to attend one of the many atheist/agnostic/secular OA meetings. Hope to see you there!”
God Wants Me in OA
Terri explains what her religious friends and the strangers she has encountered don’t understand: that nothing can help her overcome her bingeing except her Higher Power, the Twelve Steps, and the Fellowship of Overeaters Anonymous.
An Expert’s Prayer: Help Me Be Teachable
“When you have absolutely no self-esteem … sometimes you hide behind a wall of being ‘the expert.’” says this OA member. “I have made so many changes in my life, but there’s one that excites me the most.”
Whole New Me
Joan has completely turned her life around in the four years since she joined OA. “The person I am today is no longer full of yesterday’s resentments,” she says. “She is a person who seeks daily to be the OA message.”