Cyndy, compulsive eater, and Meg, food and sugar addict, host this workshop on Step Twelve: “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive overeaters and to practice these principles in all our affairs.” This workshop includes great shares about the value of giving service.
Linda, grateful compulsive overeater, and Beverly, compulsive overeater, host this workshop on Step Eleven: “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” Examples of prayer and meditation are discussed.
Linda, a compulsive eater, and Karen, abstinent compulsive eater and food addict, host this workshop on Step Ten: “Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.”
When she was working Step Nine, Keri’s sponsor suggested she make amends to herself. Keri did so by writing a prayer that “lists positive characteristics that oppose my character defects . . . . By saying this prayer daily and out loud to my Higher Power, I am acting as if . . .”
“I was complaining to my sponsor about the religious language of the Eleventh Step Prayer,” says one OA member. “She suggested I rewrite it in language that is meaningful to me.” Read the rewrite in this story.
I heard the Second Step and had a spiritual experience that I’ve never forgotten,” says N.P., who went on to lose 75 pounds (34 kg) after joining OA. “Nothing could keep me from coming back.”
Step Eleven is how we communicate with our higher power and how we receive wisdom. In a meditation phone meeting, Katherine’s meditation delivers a poignant message that it’s time to care of the body that has taken care of her in her compulsion.
“I am learning,” says Liz, ”that if I review my emotions and my behavior daily, then responding to and resolving issues becomes easier and fewer matters build up over time.”
John hated his grandmother for the way she treated him as a kid. And he ate over it. But by working Steps Eight and Nine and by doing a “forgiveness inventory,” he got to the bottom of it and was able to forgive. “This program is amazing,” he writes.
The list of amends to make in Step Nine may be long, but it is guaranteed to be finite. Even in a difficult Ninth Step, the promises still come true! “And,” this writer reports, ”I am able to stay abstinent . . . one day at a time!”