An IDEA Once Planted
“Through nurturing both a small plant gifted in celebration of abstinence and my OA program, I’ve learned that with care, patience, and renewed enthusiasm, growth and beauty can always be rediscovered—even after 9,190 days.”
Readings
Step Seven Save
”I struggle so much with the character defect of pride,” says one OA member, “and I find the antidote in the Principle of Step Seven: humility.”
Mopping Up Mistakes
Dorothy cheated her employers to the tune of thousands of dollars, and she was hopeless to pay back such a large sum. But her sponsor encouraged her, she became willing, and Higher Power responded in kind.
Who’s In Charge? All of Us
“We are all in charge of our own side of the street and our own programs,” says one OA member, who remarks how gratifying it is that service body decisions are all based on following our primary purpose: to carry the message of recovery.
Good IDEA
“International Day Experiencing Abstinence (IDEA), observed the third Saturday of November, reminds us that abstinence is not only freedom from compulsive eating but also a profound connection to a Higher Power and spiritual balance.”
Honest Effort
Sander did not work Step Nine fully the first time around. But the second time, he learned how Step Nine can remove the guilt and other feelings that had been triggering him to eat.
Tradition Nine: Alive and Well
How do you know if Tradition Nine is being practiced in your group? One OA member offers a number of ways to tell.
Tradition Seven: Strive to Give
“I took on service tasks to learn them,” Cindy says, ”not because I was already an expert, and taking on those risks taught me faith, trust, and new skills.”
Try Writing
Once Donna understood that writing to Lifeline helps others, she was able to overcome fear of not being good enough, a fear that was keeping her in her disease of compulsive eating.
Something Like Physics
In “Something Like Physics,” Mercy F. shares her journey in Overeaters Anonymous as an atheist who finds strength in spiritual practices without a traditional Higher Power, embracing instead the principles of Good Orderly Direction and “doing the next right thing.”