The Overeaters Anonymous
Journal to Recovery
Spring 2002
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"Overeaters Anonymous is a fellowship of individuals who, through
shared experience, strength and hope, are recovering from compulsive overeating.
We welcome everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively. There are no
dues or fees for members; we are self-supporting through our own contributions,
neither soliciting nor accepting outside donations. OA is not affiliated
with any public or private organization, political movement, ideology,
or religious doctrine; we take no position on outside issues. Our primary
purpose is abstain from compulsive overeating and to carry this message
of recovery to those who still suffer"
God, Grant me the Serenity to
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Step 3: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the
care of God as we understood Him.
"Freedom from Self-Will" When I reached Step Three, I felt frightened at the possibility of taking it. I was afraid I would have to become a different person overnight. However, my sponsor helped me understand that Step Three requires only the willingness to turn my will and my life over to my HP. It helped me to remember that my self-will had tripped me up in the past, and I would have to take this Step to be free from it a freedom I desperately wanted. Self-will comes up in my life today, but I still progress in my recovery as long as I remain willing to do the footwork. It has helped me to remember that I rarely knew what was best for me, or if I did know, I could never act on that knowledge. For example, I knew that stealing food was wrong, but I could never act on this knowledge when I was in the food. I also knew about good nutrition and the benefits of exercise, but I could never apply these principles to my life. That is how well my intellect and my self-will have served me. Today, it feels good to live with the knowledge that I don’t know what is best for me, but my HP does! Moreover, I have found a faith that works, as long as I am willing to work the Steps daily. Step Three is not easy, and I expect to spend my life working on it. Rather than being afraid of this Step, I now take it eagerly each morning in my prayers. I relish saying the words with the insight that the more I depend on my HP, the more independence I gain.
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Letter from Chairman Richard T. Greetings from the chairman of Houston Metro Intergroup! I recently noted HMI's mission statement, guided by the Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous and therefore directly responsible to those it serves. Houston Metro Intergroup provides caring support and timely information for those individuals within the Houston Metropolitan area seeking assistance with eating disorders. I contacted AA to see if they had a mission statement and they claimed not to. They suggested that I look to the preamble and the primary purpose. As some of you are aware, this is the second time I've served in the capacity of HMI Chair. The first time, I filled and completed a resignee's unexpired term and was then elected. I have stepped into the shoes of Helen D. who did a yeoman's job but was term-limited out. One of the things I've always practiced is a very hands-off approach. If I'm far seeing or reaching, it's because I'm carried on the shoulders of giants. One of the things I hope to do during my term is to really ramp up Public Information. I believe that in conjunction with the HIPM (Hospitals, Institutions, Professionals and Military) we can increase public awareness of that which OA has to offer the community. That starts with people participating in the process. Whether you're representing a meeting or not, all are welcome at Intergroup meetings at 10:00 o'clock a.m. on the second Saturday of each month. The annual HMI/GBAI convention was a big success. Thank you everyone, especially Christine S.! Way to go! Now Houston 2002 is underway (thanks, Dee!) and there will be more opportunities for service. Thank you for your attention and consideration. Please feel free to contact me. Very truly yours, Richard T.
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* Go to work *PRAY *Take Kids to Practice *PRAY *Get Groceries *PRAY *Pay Bills *PRAY *Goto Doctor *PRAY GET THE PICTURE!!!!!!!! PRAYING DOES THE BODY GOOD ~
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SERVICE We are always in need for people to help out with various activities the intergroup puts on. These are just a few of the activities we always could use some help in: **returning OA phone calls **committee positions **workshop leaders **and much much more. Please help us help you by helping us!
MY 9TH STEP PRAYER Like many of us in OA, I have suffered much in my life, but I do not wish to use my painful past to perpetuate a life of misery in the present. Somewhere the misery has to stop. If it be Your will, please let it stop with me through this 9th step. I know that nothing will change for me until I am willing to go within myself and face my own painful feelings and the experiences on which they are based. I know that You will guide me through the process with abstinence, neutrality and sanity. AA's "Big Book" says that You will change me and I have faith in Your healing love. The results of that healing love are the promises of the program. I believe the promises will come true for me as I stay on the spiritual path of recovery with Your help. Amen. -submitted by Katie C. |
One Day at a Time
Because I have always thought of myself as such an ordinary person, as life moved along I was surprised to find so many emotional events happening in it. I have had severe periods of depression and despair; I have known fear, anxiety, anger and doubt. I have wrestled with grief and known the agony of rejection. I have been subjected to criticism and experienced firsthand the difficulty of forgiving those whom I once thought I would never be able to forgive. What I have learned about life and recovery is that no one is ordinary, that everyone experiences emotions of all kinds, and what is important is that each of these upheavals are instructive and not wasted. Whereas once I would block my feelings, I now allow myself to feel them. Instead of sweeping my emotions under a rug, I express them. Rather than blocking grief from my soul, I experience it ... then heal from it. When I am rejected, I try to move on by exploring the reasons why.
ONE DAY AT A TIME ... I will turn my negative emotions into positive ones by transforming them into useful learning experiences both for myself and for others. *-- Reprinted from Daily Meditations
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"When you are down to nothing, God's up to something!"
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Today I make an anonymous contribution of $1,000.00 to the Houston Metro Intergroup. I make this contribution because OA has, I believe, literally and figuratively help to save my life from one of daily despair and self-loathing. OA has helped me become a better person, a better parent, a better friend, a better lover, a better community volunteer. It is said that the more you work the Program, the more the Program works for you. I can say today that is true for me. I know every morning upon awakening that I need to commit to another day of working My Program, and I ask for my HP’s will in carrying the message to other compulsive overeaters who still suffer. OA has helped to improve my life in so many ways. One of those ways is the financial bounty I enjoy today. I attribute this bounty, as modest as it is, to my recovery. Recovery allows me to interact with others in my profession in a more ethical and more moral way than ever before. And guess what? Yes, the fruits of that labor have paid off in many ways, one of which is financial. One of the chapters in OA 12 & 12 asks us to think about all the money we spent on diets and diet loss programs (failures all) before coming to OA. It challenges us to remember OA as we enjoy the benefits of recovery. Every time I read that I thought: yeah, someday I should give something extra to OA. But until now, I never have. Today I am doing so. And I remind myself as I write this to remember it again every day. If you have experienced recovery on OA, I encourage you to ask yourself the same questions I asked. Then make an *extra* contribution to help carry the message. Whether it’s an extra dollar or two in the meeting basket, or something more, just remember the uncounted dollars you might still spend on the current *miracle diet* if you didn’t have OA. --Anonymous, Houston, TX
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| The Gifts That Keep on Giving
Surrender Making That Call
Meetings
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Pretty terrifying....
--submitted by Brenda P.
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any life run on self-will can hardly be a success." --AA Big Book
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For NEWCOMERS & OLDTIMERS
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The Simple Approach to the 12 Steps! Step 1: There's a power that will kill me. Step 2: There's a power that wants me to live. Step 3: Which do I want? (If you want to die, stop here. If you want to live, go on.) Step 4: Using examples from your own life, understand that selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear control your actions. Step 5: Tell all your private, embarrassing secrets to another person. Step 6: Decide whether or not you want to live that way any more. Step 7: If you want your life to change, ask a power greater than yourself to change it for you. (If you could have changed it yourself, you would have long ago.) Step 8: Figure out how to make right all the things you did wrong. Step 9: Fix what you can without causing more trouble in the process. Step 10: Understand that making mistakes is part of being human (When you make a mistake, fix it, immediately if you can.) Step 11: Ask for help to treat yourself and others the way you want your higher power to treat you. Step 12: Don't stop doing 1 through 11, and PASS IT ON!! -Author Unknown
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Tools of Recovery - Writing
Write the 12 steps on a problem. 1. Powerless over_____ Life unmanageable
2. Came to believe that God can restore me to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn___________over to Him. 4. Inventory (What is my part in this?) List two fears. List two resentments. 5.Admit to God my part in this is ______________
6. I am entirely ready to have God remove -
7. Ask God to remove ____________(character
8. Make a list of those I have harmed because of this
9. How can I make amends to each person on this list
10. Continue to take inventory. 11. Keep in conscious contact with God. 12. What spiritual awakening have I had (new insight) as a result of working these steps on this specific problem? --courtesy of Judy R.
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| Editor's Corner
I first would like to thank everyone for their input, support and guidance in helping me with this newsletter. This newsletter is really done out of love for each and everyone of you. I believe that we are a unique family in that we understand what is going on with each other. The friends and family I have made here are with me for life. I really don't have much to say except that I hope you like this work of love and to submit any articles you may have. I do my best to be fair to all. I would like to share a meditation that I really like. I get daily meditations that relate to program work. This one in particular strikes me in the heart. It reminds me of where I have been, how I got here, and where I will go. Hope you enjoy. Your Friend, Delia G. :~*~:. .:~*~:. .:~*~:. .:~*~:. .:~*~:. .:~*~*~:. .:~*~:. .:~ I used to get so disgusted with myself. I was sick and tired of trying to lose weight because I always failed. I had lost weight several times but I would still feel ugly, fat and unacceptable to everybody else. The sickness and tiredness remained because I had not changed anything inside my head, just my body size! My past was still there and it continued to haunt me, and I was filled with the guilt and shame of the past. A friend told me about this great program where I could discover what was really making me sick and how I could recover. She said, "You will have someone with you to help continually 24 hours a day, seven days a week." "How can this be?" I asked. She said, "Well, this wonderful program helps you recover by teaching you what really has been bothering you. Maybe it's things you are sorry you did or didn't do in the past, people you've hurt or who have hurt you." "Do I need to leave home or pay a lot of money?" I asked. She said, "No. You work it at home, at work and everywhere you go. The cost is nothing, except a desire to stop eating compulsively. Your continual help is your Higher Power and he never goes to sleep, he listens and helps you when you ask for his help." "Wow, you mean I don't have to be sick and tired any more?" "That's right and all it takes is Twelve small but important Steps, a lot of love, hugs, acceptance, trust and sincere honesty. It's easy and works as long as you work it." ONE DAY AT A TIME ... I don't need to be sick and tired of myself any more. I have a wonderful
program with a lot of tools, friends and my Higher Power to help me. I
can achieve recovery one day at a time ... it's a matter of progress, not
perfection.
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"Choosing Happiness" Ironically, the more we try to control others, the more we are controlled. Our emotions become reactions to others rather than reflecting true choices. Happiness, to us, becomes no more than fleeting moments of relief tied to the moods and behaviors of others. Happiness is a choice. We can choose to let go of attempts to control people, relationships, and situations, and thereby free ourselves from their control. We can choose to let go of anger and resentment when others don't fulfill our expectations. We can choose to live out our own lives and work on our own growth. Happiness isn't having everyone and everything going our way. It grows out of a quiet choice to accept the things we can't control and to concentrate on changing what we can -ourselves. From A Moment to Reflect
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"The Promises" from the Big Book
* We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
* We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
* We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
* We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away.
* Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.
* We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
* We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could
not do for ourselves.
Always to extend the hand
and heart of OA to all who share my compulsion;
for this I am responsible.
Overeaters Anonymous is a Fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience and mutual support, are recovering from compulsive overeating. We welcome everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively. There are no dues or fees for membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions, neither soliciting nor accepting outside donations. OA is not affiliated with any public or private organization, political movement, ideology or religious doctrine; we take no position on outside issues. Our primary purpose is to abstain from compulsive overeating and to carry this message of recovery to those who still suffer.
Steps is published quarterly by Houston Metro Intergroup (HMI) of Overeaters Anonymous, P.O. Box 741836, Houston, Texas 77274-1836, 713-973-6633
Editorial Policy: Opinions expressed herein are those of the writers and not of HMI or OA as a whole, unless otherwise noted. We reserve the right to edit all submissions with the intent of preserving the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous
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