The Spirit of Tradition Eleven
Understanding Tradition Eleven taught me that true attraction lies not in promotion but in the quiet authenticity of recovery, humility, and service.
Steps and Traditions
When I Began Using Meditation as an Alternative to Compulsive Eating, I Was Able to Overcome My Childhood Trauma
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of working OA’s Twelve Steps, Steven recounts his discovery of how meditation in Step Eleven helped him untangle his emotional wounds and his compulsive overeating.
Self-Amends Prayer
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 . . .”
Spiritual Rewrite
“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.
Nothing Stopping Me
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.”
Sacred and Amazing Gift
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.
Forward Motion
“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.”
Loving Amends
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.
A Possible and Promising Step
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!”
The Underwear Amends
Sherril didn’t see why all the fuss about self-amends. Then one day, while they were doing laundry, her daughter remarked that Sherril’s underwear belonged in the trash.