“A glass that looks so clean when out of the bright light can actually be very dirty,” notes Paulette. When she agrees reluctantly in to be held up to the light, she says “It is shocking to see me as I really am . . . . but now I know what to do about it.” The answer is in the Seventh Step.
“I can freely, honestly, and humbly admit that I am powerless over food,” says Carolyn M. When she takes OA’s First Step, it is not in hopeless defeat. Instead it is the beginning of a hopeful and liberating journey with a source of help that “gives me a peace I cannot describe.”
“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.”
”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.”
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.
“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.
“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.”
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.
How do you know if Tradition Nine is being practiced in your group? One OA member offers a number of ways to tell.
“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.”