Awesome Silver Linings
OA’s Ninth Tradition shone brightly during the pandemic when local service bodies suddenly found themselves serving OA members from around the world.
Readings
Ready or Not
At Step Nine, Fiona has to come to terms with apologizing to her mom. “Whether she apologizes is irrelevant,” she says. “I need to clear my side of the street.”
Stepping Into a Vocation
Alan’s grandmother helped raise him, but later, Alan couldn’t bring himself to visit her in the nursing home. Working Step Nine, found a way to make a living amends and find a new passion for public health.
Start With Forgiveness
“I need to forgive myself for my addiction,” says Anonymous. Thankfully, we can all share in this very powerful part of Step Nine.
Non-Readers Among Us
Literature is one of our nine Tools of Recovery, but what if an OA member struggles with literacy? Here are suggestions to support these members in their recovery.
Clear Intentions: My OA Program Success as an Agnostic
Mercy F. once believed in a Higher Power but is now agnostic. She has found success in OA even when working with those who believe in God or Higher Power as an entity. “We don’t argue about it,” she says. “We bond over working the Steps, using the Tools, and following Good Orderly Direction.”
Translation for the Atheist/Agnostic/Secular Newcomer
Teresa, an atheist OA member, describes how OA members with a theistic higher power can better help the atheist/agnostic/secular newcomer who is struggling with both compulsive eating and the God-based language of our program.
I Am Listening
Before OA, Courtney neglected and abused her body. “I have taken better care of my car than of you,” she writes in a message to her own body. Now after a few years of abstinence, she is ready to make an Eighth Step, add her own body to the list of persons she has harmed and become willing to make amends.
Surrender Happens 24/7
After one year of abstinence, Elena is challenged by thoughts, emotions, and feelings that can no longer be numbed with food, and this is her opportunity to practice surrendering so many things to a higher power. “But I never found these more difficult than going the experience of letting go of busyness and being faced with boredom,” she says.
Perfect Peace
“The Fifth Step: what a daunting Step it was for me as a newcomer,” says Anonymous. “But I can remember the feeling when I was done . . . I was relieved.”